amalas_bookstop's reviews
105 reviews

Between Friends & Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi

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emotional funny inspiring 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

4.0

This book was really adorable. This was a perfect strangers to lovers with just a hint of friends to lovers. I loved that Jo is successful, confident, and is not shy in knowing what she wants.

I was not expecting the mental health representation but the author did a great job handling that as well. Overall I had a good time reading this book.
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The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

5.0

These ladies of Brewster place feel so real. All the credit goes to Gloria Naylor for writing so descriptively. This is the first book to bring tears to my eyes this year. Even though these ladies go through hardships, this book also highlights the importance of strong female relationships, they had each other to get through hardships times. 

This book is an interconnected short story but they flow so well it almost feels like chapters. I look forward to watching the TV series.
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Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolutely Amazing!!

Nigerian and Nigerian American representation: ✅
Paraplegic representation: ✅
Strong female characters: ✅
Robot representation: ✅

Nnedi writing is so eloquent, culturally relevant, and enthralling. These two novels in one spoke very well together. I don’t know if I enjoyed Zelu the but author or Ankarra the most.

I know it is early in the year to say this, but this might be in my personal top 10!
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All We Were Promised by Ashton Lattimore

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adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“Sometimes doing the right thing is more important than doing what’s safest,” he said. “I know I don’t have to explain that to you.”

A fantastic book that highlights black excellence in 1837! I enjoyed reading about narrative of budding black abolitionist living in Philadelphia, we don’t hear enough about how the wealthy black community was trying to end slavery their own way, and commingling with white folks to get to the end goal.

I thought this was a great debut novel. She does a fantastic job of writing multi-narration well and keeping the story flowing. I enjoyed reading this book from beginning to end.
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The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson, Arna Bontemps

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challenging emotional informative reflective 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

4.0

This was slightly different than what is was expecting but not all bad. This was actually way easier to read than I thought it would be, and I see a lot of James Weldon Johnson actual music background incorporated in this story.

There were parts of this story that I thought got a little off track, just a few pacing issues. But overall I do believe that this novel is a necessary read for those wanting to read black American classics. However when is comes to the “passing” literature I do believe that other authors have maybe written the narrative better.
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Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative tense slow-paced

4.5

Such an informative read! Matthew does an amazing job of living with these folks who are underneath the poverty line as well as charging everyone else on how they can engage civically to stop the cycle. Perfect way to start the year with my first non-fiction.
Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez

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adventurous informative lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

There are parts of this book that showed real promise. I enjoyed visualizing Egypt in the 1800s. The bustling carriages and dirt roads in Cairo and the ruins of Alexandria. The setting of this book is so unique.
The part I could not overlook was Inez our main female heroine. She would make comments like she did not like when men looked at her as an ignorant woman, but honestly she was ignorant through a lot of this story line. She kept making the same mistakes and it was hard for me to visualize her as this strong, smart, courageous woman when Whit her love interest was the reason Inez made it through anything in this story.

I also found the love between Whit and Inez even more unbelievable and quite honestly unsettling than I did in the first book. He does something pretty untrustworthy pretty early on and he gets let off the hook pretty easily by Inez. I just found that completely unbelievable. I found their relationship distracting to the overall plot, and was completely over it.

This book ended being an amazing disappointment.
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Swift River by Essie Chambers

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.5

This book was so good!

This review will be for the audiobook.
This was such a nice treat. The main narrator for Diamond was perfect. I honestly felt and kind of remembered the awkwardness of being a teenage girl. I felt for her as she was having to deal with the prejudices of being the only biracial person in this New England town. I felt joy when she finally found a friend (even though she also had her issues), and I wanted to just hug her through all of the tension she was feeling with her mom and her own self worth.

This book also had different narrators when it came to the past timeline (Aunt Clara) and for her Aunt Lena. Both of these characters gave Diamond some amazing lessons through history lessons of her family.

This book is beautifully written which comes across amazingly well in audio form. I loved every bit of this experience.
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At the Edge of the Haight by Katherine Seligman

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challenging dark emotional informative 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

3.0

I think that the author portrays homelessness very realistically. Most people don’t want help and when they do it is because of a personal decision they have reached to get off of the streets.

I only wish the author had written emotions better and the overall flow was smoother. This book just felt very ragged with how the English was done. It felt hard to connect to the characters. Even though this book is written in first person, it felt like a disconnected third person.
Overall this was a great read for poverty awareness month.
One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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emotional lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

3.0

I am really glad I read this, it makes me appreciate the current content from Taylor. While the writing in this story leaves a lot to be desired, I did enjoy the plot. I enjoyed reading a romance with folks in their 30s trying to navigate adult issues, that was refreshing in a way. I just thought at time the characters were very repetitive and the writing did not flow like am I used to from her. 

At times this story brought both cringes and smiles to my face. Solid 3 star.