Tag: book review

Book review – Lust Killer by Ann Rule

Caidyn's review (1)

Lust Killer

4/5

CW: rape, murder, serial murder, and graphic descriptions of necrophilia and amputation of body parts

I feel like my list of content warnings really set the tone for this, didn’t it? But, really, Ann Rule does it again. This is the third book that I’ve read by her and, somehow, she manages to blow me away with each one.

This book covers a serial killer that I had never really heard of. At least, he wasn’t as high profile as Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer or John Wayne Gacy. His body count is relatively small and what he did isn’t as terrifying as the other men.

I first heard of Jerry Brudos when I watched Mindhunter. He’s the guy who’s in one episode who jerks off to the shoe they bring him. Remember now? That’s Jerry Brudos. In the show, he’s kind of treated like an idiot, like his crimes weren’t that bad when you compare them to Ed Kemper or Richard Speck.

But, Jerry Brudos killed four women. He started off attacking a couple of women as a teenager, taking pictures of them as something to get off on later. Brudos went to an asylum for a few years, then went out to start a family. By all means, he seemed relatively normal.

Yet, he killed four women and tried to abduct another. One of them, he cut off her foot. Another couple, he cut off their breasts and made molds of them. I did warn you in the content warnings that this might be discussed in here.

I really just can’t believe that I’ve never heard of him. He is a serial killer that I know I’m never going to get out of my mind after reading it because he followed the typical trajectory of serial killers. Yet, he operated before “serial killer” was a coined term. He was in jail by the time the interviews were started at the BSU (Behavioral Science Unit; now the BAU) at the FBI.

I think it’s just interesting how history has forgotten him. Despite killing four women and mutilating their bodies post-mortem, he has been eclipsed by later serial killers that operated after they started getting noticed more and we started seeing them everywhere as a society. When I was reading this, he sounds like every other serial killer I’ve heard of, except that he had a foot fetish and that fetish escalated to new heights, then his fantasies about women evolved over the years.

If you’re into this topic, I really do suggest this book. I don’t think that it’s aged too well in some areas — public opinion has changed about biological males wearing women’s clothing, after all; people in drag is pretty damn accepted and celebrated, and it’s not seen as sexual deviancy to the same extent that it was — but the book is damn good. It covers a case that people just don’t hear about anymore.

Talk to me!
Have you read this one?
Which serial killer do you wish was talked about more?

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Book review – American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan

Caidyn's review (1)

American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century

5/5

CW: murder/serial murder, psychopathy, kidnapping, rape, suicide, and dismemberment

I read this book in less than 12 hours. Started it while I was waiting on a friend to show up for brunch, kept reading it once I got home, and then just didn’t stop. It’s one of those insane stories that you forget about and then, when you’re reminded with all the details, you can’t help but wonder how you forgot it.

I’ve definitely been exposed to this case through true crime podcasts before this book came out. When I read the description, I only had to read that it was about a kidnapping of a girl from a coffee kiosk in Alaska and that was it. I knew exactly what story this was and what the content would be.

But I entirely forgot the case.

It was like reading it all over again because the story starts at the beginning. Israel Keyes kidnaps Samantha Koenig. Everyone thinks that she’s being held captive for a ransom since that’s how he made it look. Finally, he’s caught and apprehended. Except, it turns out that there are more victims. He operated entirely underground and no one knew that there was even a serial killer. He had kill kits. He studied books written by FBI agents who worked on apprehending serial killers.

The first two parts of this book is about Samantha’s kidnapping. They find out that Israel Keyes is more than what he says he is, along with finding Samantha’s body. (Which was horrific and sad to read.) The second half of the book, or the last two parts, is the detectives and agents working on this case seeing that there was more to the story. We learn about Keyes’ upbringing — completely off the grid and very religious, along with him showing what are considered hallmarks of psychopathy — and his other crimes.

The crazy thing about this case is that literally no one knew that it was going on. People went missing and there was nothing about it. Keyes stated that he operated for around fourteen years. In that time, we have no clue how many he killed. He said he never killed kids, but was that always how it was or did that just start after having a kid? The crazy thing is that he was so meticulous and studied the craft so much that we really don’t know how many victims he had.

And we’ll never know because he took his life.

This book was honestly amazing. I’m still sitting here in shock about this case while I’m writing this up. And we’ll never know more. I would be really surprised if agents were ever able to figure out how many he killed. There are three confirmed kills that he spoke about before his suicide, but there could be so many more across America.

If you like true crime, I highly recommend this book. It’s absolutely chilling to read and it made me realize just how little I actually knew about this case.

Talk to me!
What true crime do you love?
Are you familiar with this case?

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Book review – Sea Witch Rising by Sarah Henning

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Sea Witch Rising (Sea Witch, #2)

4/5

CW: loss, grief, loss of a loved one, and war

  1. Sea Witch – 4/5

As this is a sequel and directly picks up where the first book ends, there will be spoilers for the first book in this review! I don’t really want to dance around what happened and try not to give big spoilers away for this. Got it? Good. Sorry y’all who haven’t read this fantastic series, but maybe it’ll give you a jump on reading it?

So, as I said, this picks up immediately after the last book. Hell, the prologue in this is the very last chapter of the first book. Here’s a quick summary of the ending for those who need it. Evie saves Nik’s life with magic at the sacrifice of her own. She’s dying in the sea, but, with some magical help, she takes the life of an octopus, becoming the Sea Witch as we know her. Decades have passed. The mermaids are frightened of her. But, one mermaid comes looking to be turned into a human so she can win the love of a boy, Nik’s grandson (also named Nik; these damn royals, right?). And, Evie does that for her, stealing her voice and giving her days to win his love without it.

That’s where the story ends.

The mermaid’s name is Alia and she’s one of the king’s daughters. Except, she has a twin, Runa, who knows that she can’t do this and doesn’t want her sister to die. She makes her own deal with Evie to go up to the top and to help her sister in any way necessary.

The heart of this story, like the last, is sisterly love and the bond between siblings. It was beautiful to read that. I’m really loving all of these books that are coming out with that as its big focus and a huge theme that it deals with. The relationship Runa and Alia have in the book was so believable. They love each other to pieces and would do anything for the other, but they also hate each other at times.

Also, this book is about Evie. Runa is one perspective — and the one that dominates the book — but Evie also gets a say. Sarah said that this book (because I was lucky enough to see her speak on the night this released) is about those who are left behind. Runa was left behind by Alia. Evie was left behind by everyone because everyone she loves has now died. And it’s about the two of them, in their own way, coming into themselves.

It’s also about finding people. In the human world, Runa finds people that are like her. And they band together to try to make things right after the plan goes horribly wrong. It doesn’t help that it’s the dawn of World War One and everything’s about to get fucked anyways.

And WWI is a big part of this story. It’s something motivating the merpeople and, definitely, Runa’s father. It took me a while to realize that her father was the same one. That means that Runa has the same father that Anna did after her adoption by the merpeople. The timeline really messed with me in this story. It took me a while to actually get down the relationships and that people were basically the same from the first book. Kind of confused me for a while until I got it down.

Another thing that didn’t work for me is the characterization of Runa’s father. It just didn’t sit right with me for some reason. It felt unbelievable. And I never quite got the reason why he had become like this. It never felt adequately explained to me. As the book went on, it became more central to the plot. And I still never got it. It confuses me still. I’m pretty sure I’d catch it whenever I reread it, but that was one major part of the story that didn’t work for me.

I’m also glad to report that, unlike the first book, romance isn’t very central to the story. It’s there, of course, but this book has a lot more action than the first one. I liked that it had more action. The story went faster and my eyes didn’t glaze over like they do with romance.

The ending was a really good one. During Sarah’s talk, she kept saying that there’s no other book in the works, but that this one is being called a Sea Witch novel so that means there’s always a chance that more will come out. Personally, that makes me excited. The ending closed off the plot for this book, but left it open enough for more to come in the future. It’d be interesting to see something set in more contemporary times.

Overall, another great book by Sarah Henning! I highly recommend you check her out because she has amazing books and equally amazing projects that are in the works.

Talk to me!
What mermaid books do you love?
Do you have plans to read this one?

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Book review – Jade War by Fonda Lee

Caidyn's review (1)

Jade War (The Green Bone Saga, #2)

4.5/5

CW: violence, desecrating a body, clan wars (still), mention of rape, abortion, and death

  1. Jade City – 4.5/5

I’m going be straight up with y’all. I don’t know what the fuck I want to say about this book. All I know is that it was amazing and I just cannot wait for the third book. Which, when I went to get the cover for this book, I saw that the book already has a title and cover and description and I started screaming and crying.

That’s how much I love this series.

But, I need to get back on track because I have a warning for y’all. This will contain spoilers for the first book. I can’t hold myself back because so much has happened and ugh. It needs to be told and I can’t censor myself. Stay away if you want to be unspoiled!

This book picks up months after the end of Jade City. Hilo is the Pillar of No Peak after Lan was killed. Anden recovered from his fight and, after deciding not to become a Green Bone, ends up in Espenia to see how he could be of use there getting an education and being around the Kekonese in Espenia. Shae is still the Weather Man. Wen, Hilo’s wife, is expecting their first child together. Hilo’s grandfather, the former Pillar, has passed away as well. Oh, and there’s also a foreign war on top of the clan war No Peak is still having with the Mountain clan.

Basically, shit has gone down and it’s going down fast.

As with the first book, I was built up and destroyed so rapidly. The plot is a bit slower because of the expansion. After all, it’s not just things going on in Kekon now. It’s also Kekon, No Peak working with the Espenian government, Anden being in Espenia and the people he meets there, the political maneuvering of all characters, and even more. The book has expanded so much and it’s all-encompassing.

At times, I thought that Lee might have bitten off more than she could chew. Mainly with the foreign war that was now going on. I hope that expands more in the third book but I felt like it was very much a background thing in this. I wanted to know more about it and the relationship that Kekon had with them.

But, the characters. Nothing is sacred in Lee’s book. Nothing. I remember that distinctly from reading the first book. No one is safe in this damn thing and I had to brace myself. Wen is, definitely, my favorite character. Shae is a close second. Lee writes amazing female characters. They’re so complex and live in this very male-dominated world. Wen finds ways to manipulate Hilo into doing things that he might not have agreed to before. When that doesn’t work, she and Shae work together behind his back to get shit done that Hilo might not approve of. They are wonderful and ugh. I love it.

I also enjoyed seeing how Hilo is coping with all that’s going on. He was never supposed to be the Pillar. That was Lan and his descendants. But now he’s thrust into this position he was never trained for. I’m enjoying seeing how he retains his old personality and works with the new one that he has to develop to do his job as Pillar. Although, he’s still hella impulsive and I distinctly remember one scene where I was staring, open-mouthed, at the book because I did not expect his actions. I’m still waiting to see the consequences of those actions.

Anden also got a lot of development in this. He’s away from the people he grew up around and in a country he’s never been to. He has to learn this new world, along with reconcile his old identity with his new one. Oh, and he finally really gets to live his life how he wants. Kekon isn’t well-known for being accepting of gay people — it’s still very cishet and male-dominated — so he gets to be in Espenia where it’s not a huge deal. He gets to finally be gay in a more open way. That was lovely to see.

This book is so intense and it spans years. I’m not joking when I say that. The first book felt more contained and in a shorter time span, but this one really is longer. I kind of judged it by Wen having kids. She’s pregnant with her first, then they have a second. The second is starting to walk when the book ends. I mean, that’s years. And it didn’t really feel like it. It just shows how long this game is going to go. Who knows how long the Saga will be at this rate!

What I do know is that I’m going to read the next one as soon as it comes out. And, I’m going to be impatiently waiting for it because I need this stat. Like immediately.

Talk to me!
Have you read this? What did you think?
What series is killing you with the wait?

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ARC review – Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

Caidyn's review (1)

Serpent & Dove (Serpent & Dove, #1)

I received this from Edelweiss and HarperTeen in exchange for an honest review!

4.5/5

CW: sexism, forced marriage, human experimentation, cutting (for blood magic), execution, starvation/not eating, and burning at the stake

I was completely blown away by this debut! When I went into this, I was pretty sure that it would be a good book but damn! Apparently, this year is all about debut authors shocking me by how amazing their stories are. This is on the upper-edge of YA — I’d say 16-18 — and I was so here for it. Alternately, I was laughing and on the edge of my seat. Sometimes at the same time, honestly.

This book follows Louise (Lou) le Blanc and Captain Reid Diggory. Lou is a witch from a very important lineage who is trying to escape from her life with her best friend, Coco, who is a blood witch. Reid is a Chasseur, or a part of the Church. And he kind of burns witches at the stake from time to time. And works for people who do a bit of human experimentation. You know how it is. Common stuff, every day stuff, right?

It’s set in a fictionalized France and I loved it. It was so much fun to read it while keeping in mind all that I know about France. This France hates witches. Hates them so much and will do anything to get rid of them. It’s rather sexist, admittedly, going with the belief that a woman becomes her husband’s property.

But the world was so rich and developed. I could really get a feel for it and place it in my head. Sometimes the world is the hardest thing for me to get down because they can blend together. This one stood out, which I really loved. I could keep it straight in my mind despite all of the moving parts — Lou’s old life and those connected with it, the people she’s with now, the Church, etc.

And that plot? So damn fast-paced. It was a whirlwind to read and I kept wondering exactly where it was going towards, even though I had an idea of where it might end up. It kept me wondering because it was so broad. There were little things here and there that would catch my attention as a reader, then the story would come back to the story/ending that we were being worked to.

The biggest win for me with this book was the trope that it had running through its veins. Enemies, although Reid doesn’t know who/what Lou is. They just don’t like each other. Lou is very boisterous and opinionated and loves a song about Big Tiddy Liddy. (Not joking there.) Reid is reserved, quiet, pious. He takes his church vows very seriously. Doesn’t curse and finds her horrifying, although he doesn’t agree with some of the church’s mandates.

Even better, it’s a forced marriage. They are forced to get married and, from there, start realizing they like each other more than they should since, you know, they should hate each other. I felt my aura enrich and grow, and my grey hairs slowly turn back to brown by reading this trope.

It’s so hard to get right, too. Because if you go too fast, it’s not believable that they really hated each other at all or there was any bit of force at all to get them married. Go too slow and it wears at my patience. Mahurin was like Goldilocks. She got it just right for me and what I didn’t even know that I wanted.

Really, what else do I have to say to convince you to give this witchy, twisty book a try? I preordered it when I was around 30% in because I knew that I had to get my hands on a finished copy because this was just so much fun to read. Definitely a favorite of this year!

Talk to me!
Have you read this one? Is it now on your TBR?
What’s your favorite book that has a forced marriage in it?

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Book review – I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

Caidyn's review (1)

I Was Born for This

4.5/5

CW: transphobia, accidental outing, panic disorder and panic attacks, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation, alcohol abuse, parental abandonment, talk about death of a loved one, and physical assault

This is my third book by Oseman and, happily, I loved it just as much as Radio Silence! I was hopeful that I would enjoy it because one of the MCs is a transman (which my heart always needs because there’s just not enough transman rep for my liking).

The story is kind of random. It reminded me of Radio Silence in that there was no real plot to it, just a lot of meandering until the climax was there. I think that’s because I’m not used to reading lots of contemporary. Fantasy and sci-fi typically have a very overt goal that they’re going towards while contemporary doesn’t necessarily need that.

In this, there are quite a few characters. The main ones are Angel/Fereshteh Rahimi and Jimmy Kaga-Ricci. Angel, which is her online name because Fereshteh means angel, absolutely adores a band, The Ark. She’s 18, just finished school, and is Muslim. Also, like Melanie pointed out in her review, I got major ace vibes from Angel. Then, there’s Jimmy. Jimmy is a biracial transman who has depression and anxiety. That makes things interesting since he’s the frontman of The Ark.

Also included in this is Juliet, Angel’s best friend; Bliss, Rowan’s secret girlfriend and the catalyst for Angel and Jimmy meeting; Rowan, cello player in The Ark; and Lister, the drummer. All of these characters are incredibly diverse. As I said, Angel is Muslim. Jimmy is Indian and Italian, a transman, and possibly queer. Bliss is Chinese and white, and queer. Rowan is Nigerian. Lister is queer. (When I say queer, it’s established they’re LGBTQ+, but I don’t know their exact identity with sexuality.)

I love Oseman for having all of these incredibly diverse characters, along with having fantastic mental health rep. It was beautiful to read very accurate depictions of anxiety and depression. I know that if I worked with teens for social work, I’d have a good list of books for them to read for bibliotherapy. This would be on there. (And, yes, bibliotherapy is one therapy that I want to use in my practice because I know how much books have helped me.)

One thing that I didn’t love about this book, though, is that it felt almost like a repeat of Radio Silence. There were very similar themes in it. A girl who has an obsession with some fandom. Ends up meeting and befriending a creator of the fandom. The creator has extreme depression and/or anxiety. It felt like a real repeat, but it was a lot better than Solitaire.

Overall, a very good book. Enjoyable to read, although it dealt with hard topics.

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Have you read this?
What did you think?

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Book review – One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway and its Aftermath by Åsne Seierstad

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One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway -- and Its Aftermath

5/5

CW: white supremacy, bullying, bombing, racism, Islamophobia, and VERY graphic scenes of violence/shooting of children and child death

This review needs to really start with a warning. While I will recommend this book as an amazing true crime novel for the rest of my life, this book is not for everyone. I have a very strong stomach (so to speak) around acts of violence. That’s because I love horror and true crime and I just don’t get bothered.

But this book bothered me.

Hell, I’m even familiar with the case. I listened to the episodes of My Favorite Murder and Casefile that it’s featured in. So, I knew the case. I was familiar with Anders Behring Breivik and the despicable person that he is. Yet nothing really prepared me for this case. Okay? And I’m going to be discussing the crime that he did, which was, largely, against children.

Anders was never a normal child. He had issues and constantly strove to fit in with people. In the end, he gravitated towards white supremacy and trying to cleanse Norway of the liberal party and, by extension, the Muslims who went to Norway seeking asylum from their war-torn countries.

The book that Seierstad put together was beautiful in a horrific way. My copy of the book is a little over 500 pages and it takes a little over 300 of them to get to the actual crime. The bulk of the book is showing you what Anders was like through the years and how he was radicalized, along with showing you the lives of immigrants who had their lives cut short by him. Amazing kids, too. Kids who would have changed the world if he hadn’t committed this crime.

As I said, I’m going to discuss the crime that he committed. I’m going to start that now, so turn away if that’s something you don’t want to read.

On July 22, 2011, Anders set up a bomb in front of the Prime Minister’s office. It exploded, as he had planned it to, and killed eight people. Everyone was rushing there because they weren’t sure if it was the first of many terror attacks or what was going on at all. While everyone was rushing there, Anders went to Utøya where a youth camp was for kids a part of the Labour Party (which was the governing party).

On Utøya, he was dressed as a policeman and he killed sixty-nine children. In two hours, he went around the island and shot children who were trying to get away from whatever was going on. As I said, a lot of them were immigrant children. At least, the ones featured in the book were immigrant children who wanted to make Norway more open for them, more multicultural.

Seierstad wrote an amazing book. The chapter that covers the actual crimes is, like, 70 pages long. I’m not joking. It was huge and I read it in one sitting, feeling the horrific nature of these crimes washing over me. The podcasts I listened to did not really do it justice, but Seierstad did. She allowed you to get to know the kids, then you watched them die. It was incredibly heavy. It physically pained me to read that chapter and the chapters after while you found out who lived or died.

What sticks with me is the impact of crime. Many true crime books I read focus on the actual act without letting you know much about the people affected by the crime, the victims’ friends and family. From Ander’s mother to the parents who had their children taken away from them, Seierstad showed what impact the crimes had.

I’m so glad that I read this book and, hands down, it’s the best true crime novel that I’ve ever read in my life.

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Have you read this? Is it going on your TBR?
What true crime novel do you love?

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ARC/DNF review – Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff

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Darkdawn (The Nevernight Chronicle, #3)

I received this from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 64% – 1/5

CW: graphic violence, graphic sex scenes, sexual banter, and groping

  1. Nevernight – 3.5/5
  2. Godsgrave – 4/5

Okay, all. Here it goes. I requested this book because I was honestly excited about it after finishing up Godsgrave. That one was a solid revenge story — better than Nevernight was hands down — and I was excited for the trajectory that Darkdawn would have. I was very pumped and even took a shot in the dark with requesting it from Edelweiss. For once, they approved me!

And then I went to pick it up. Months have passed since I finished the second book. It had started to slightly sour in my mind. I realized just how little I remembered of that book. I will be honest. I was actually nearly done with it when my sister passed, so, well, I didn’t entirely absorb the ending of it or a lot of what I read when she was sick.

However, thanks to this book, I firmly believe that Jay Kristoff is a one-trick pony. I am pretty sure that I’ll never pick up another of his books. I started to believe this after reading his Illuminae series, which I probably will go and rerate to two stars each. They all followed the same plot pattern. Have some banter, some action, lots of boring stuff, and then repeat. And, not only that but the characters were all carbon copies of each other and I couldn’t tell them apart.

Cut to me reading (or DNFing) Lifel1k3. Same kind of thing. Banter, action, nothing really going on.

And then I went for this series.

While I was reading this, I couldn’t help but notice how the book felt like the last two books. There was bantering, graphic fight scenes with lots of blood and murder, then there were graphic sex scenes (more on that later), and, finally, dull shit to move the plot along. Then another burst of action!

It was fun for the first couple of books, but now I’m tired of it. I want something new. I don’t want to reread the first two books in this “new” book. And this book dragged so much. I could literally predict the way the story was going to go, as I said in a status update on Goodreads. There was fighting/action, some kind of sex scene, and dull stuff. Rinse and repeat.

It doesn’t help that in the middle of that pattern the plot disappeared. I literally got to 50%, paused, and realized that I had no fucking clue what was going on and why they were doing any of this. I got so bored and the book meandered around so much that I entirely lost what was going on. And I was so bored that I didn’t even care that I wasn’t going to find out if my theory was correct about how Mia would die.

That’s not good.

Now, I’m jumping back to the sex scenes. I expressed my discomfort with them in my review of Godsgrave. I just find it incredibly uncomfortable that a 40+ man is writing voyeuristic F/F sex scenes. I already talked about that and it didn’t change from book two to book three.

The sex scenes also are just… there. They don’t contribute to the story. They don’t enhance the relationship the characters have with each other. They’re just there. They were entirely pointless and just took up space where, you know, the plot could have happened. I have no problem with sex scenes, but God I cringed every time I realized they were going to happen because I was so done with reading Ash and Mia getting it on.

In short, I do not recommend this series. I cannot recommend anything by Kristoff. He’s not my author and he’s joining my list of authors I probably won’t read ever again just because I know I’ll be disappointed.

Talk to me!
What’s a series that disappointed you?
Are there authors you won’t reach for?

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ARC review – The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood

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The Reckless Oath We Made

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4/5

CW: drug use, drug dealing, car accident, kidnapping, mental illness, hoarding, and death

I’m a big fan of Bryn Greenwood. Her first book, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, blew me away. It was a fantastic book and I’ve been waiting not-so-patiently for her next book. When I saw it on Netgalley, I clicked that button so fast. And now I’ve read it!

As usual, Greenwood looks at the uglier side of Kansas. Drugs, hoarding, white supremacy, jail. She takes characters who maybe aren’t ones you would root for, but you find yourself drawn into their stories in a way that you can’t deny is compelling. She’s really just fantastic and I cannot emphasize enough how quickly you should pick her up. If you were turned off by the idea of her first novel, this one is far less polarizing.

The story follows Zhorza, or Zee, after another bad thing has happened in her life. Her father was in jail growing up, her mother’s a hoarder, her relationship with her sister is iffy, she has been hit by a car, and she deals drugs on the side to make ends meet. Her sister, LaReigne, has been kidnapped after convicts escape from the jail she volunteers at. This leaves her young son, Marcus, in Zee’s hands while they wait to find out what’s going on.

Then, there’s Gentry. Gentry is schizophrenic and autistic. He believes he’s a knight s and has multiple voices that talk to him, including a witch and a black (i.e. evil/bad) knight. Two years ago, he met Zee when she was on her way to physical therapy after her car accident. And, he was told that he’s to be her knight and champion for the rest of his days. All very chivalric (and I loved the research that Greenwood put into that to make it believable) and great.

I loved how this book shows mental illness — especially schizophrenia since people with it are so often characterized as a danger to themselves and others — and how it can be managed without medication. Those medications, whether they’re typical or atypical antipsychotics, have a lot of harsh side effects. Yes, some people need them. But that shouldn’t be the first option unless the person is in a full-blown psychotic episode and needs to be brought back to figure out how to manage it best. And I just loved how Gentry was Gentry and, really, everyone learned to accept him for who he was despite his oddities.

I do wish that the story had a more specific plot. The story finally made sense at the end, especially when I reflected on the title. But, other than that, it felt more meandering. It was a lot like Greenwood’s first novel. There’s no huge plot — and I think I’m used to distinctive plots because of reading lots of fantasy; those usually have a definite goal — and it’s told through multiple perspectives. Zee, Gentry, Marcus, some detectives, some people they meet along the way of the story.

But boy was it beautiful. It was just a great read and I could sink into it. The characters were as fantastic as I expected and Greenwood’s writing was just as amazing. I’m pretty sure that this book is going to be liked and I can’t wait to put it in a spot on my shelves!

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Book review – With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Caidyn's review (1)

With the Fire on High

4/5

CW: teen pregnancy, death of a mother, father abandonment, and girl-on-girl hate

First thing I want to say is that this isn’t my culture and I’m not an ownvoices reviewer. I will not be able to pick up on the nuances of culture, although I really appreciated and loved reading the Afro-Latinx culture and how rich it is.

Emoni is a teen mother to a three-year-old, Emma/Babygirl, juggling school, work, and her love of cooking. Her mother died and her father went back to Puerto Rico, so she was raised by her grandmother, ‘Buela. Ever since Emoni was a child, she loved cooking and she works magic with it. She has a tense relationship with Tyrone, Babygirl’s father, but manages it. Her best friend, Angelica, has recently come out as gay and is living her best life with her girlfriend, Lauren.

I really, really enjoyed this book. I loved the themes of cooking and following your dreams and balancing responsibilities. And, for Emoni, she’s just seventeen. She’s a baby herself by my standards. And, damn, she does a great job. I loved reading about the generational support, something that I don’t always have in my family. I’m vaguely close with all my grandparents and I hate asking them for anything since that’s just not what our family does.

The story also isn’t a romance. Or, it has a side plot of a romance, but it’s more about the importance of family. I really loved that. It made it easier for me to read the more “romantic” parts. Plus, Emoni puts her daughter and her needs first. That’s something I loved. It was just about family and a young woman leaning on her family to get through these hard times.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the girl-on-girl hate, though. Along with the whole “pretty girls are mean” trope. There’s a character called Pretty Leslie and I was tired of how she was mean and her one identifier was that she was pretty. Honestly, it was annoying. I did enjoy how things ended up between them, but I just wasn’t a fan. I understood it. I was in high school, after all. I know how you hate attractive and popular people. But it got tiring as the book went on.

One thing I really connected with was Emoni’s love of cooking. I don’t talk about it a lot, but each Saturday for almost a decade now have cooked together. My mom’s not a cook and doesn’t like it, but my dad loves cooking. He passed that on to me because I love cooking too. Each Saturday, we come up with some big meal so when my mom gets home from work we sit down and eat. It’s really nice. I love cooking. While I don’t have the intuition like Emoni does, cooking is still a huge passion for me.

The long and short of this review is that I really enjoyed it. There were aspects that I didn’t like, but I loved the theme of family and that it was very light on the romance. I’d definitely revisit this book and read another Acevedo book.

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