coolfoolmoon's reviews
303 reviews

The 100 Best African American Poems [With CD (Audio)] by Nikki Giovanni

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adventurous emotional inspiring relaxing slow-paced

4.0

Years ago I saw a poet say read your poems out loud, so I try to do it when I write my own and with the poetry books I buy or rent, but it doesn’t have the same ring or energy when I’m by myself. I really liked these poems being read to me. I get it now. Plus I found several bangers in the book. I love my people!
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Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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

3.0

bestie was a bully. it's played as lighthearted but she was bullying mamita!

the book just barely scratches the surface of colonialism, slavery, and racism, which is interesting. more could've been done about that but i still liked it. i liked the little bit of florida history, just a sprinkling. i was also surprised there would be actual places named like the cemetery. that just reinforced my idea that more couldve been done with some of the elements. but i still liked it!
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Mother Country by Etaf Rum

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Etaf Rum you will always be famous. So far I’ve read both her novels and now this and she writes the same thing every time, but she writes it very well. I like seeing her process through her trauma and I’ll be sat for the next story! For the culture!
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Skyward, Vol. 1: My Low-G Life by Joe Henderson

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emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

very fun very cute very sad very sweet. love a black girl. icon! classism will be the death of all of us.
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Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

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dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I see the sequel potential but I won’t be reading it. It's pretty good, I like the story well enough, but I'm at a point where I think the evils of humanity shouldn't be equated(?) with the evils of fictional monsters. This is the second story I've read where white people evil is because of monsters. And its acknowledged in story that white people evil is its own thing, which was also in the other story I read too, but it's just a genre or type of story that's not for me anymore. It's really short so thats a plus for some and a minus for others. Overall just right in the middle for me.
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Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

3.25

Not something I ordinarily pick up. It's a very nice read. In the end the author says she doesn't know how women still find the book relevant in the 70s, but it's 2024 now and it's still relevant. It's pretty good life advice, but I think I already have the mindset expressed in the book. She was white though so I probably developed that mindset as a kid meanwhile it took her umpteen years and six children to realize it. Who knows. 
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I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

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

3.25

They say don't judge a book by its cover. Shame on me.

With a title like this I expected more. I was bored for a lot of it but didn't dnf because I was waiting on the hot monster. And I got a hot monster so I wasn't upset. I bought this from Target and I would've rather rented it from the library. But its mine now and I wrote all over it with a buncha hearts! I love when Black girls !!!!! And fuck it I’ll buy the sequel too!

The main issue is that she's a Black girl, an everyday person from America, trying to fit in in racist ass upper class France. Like I wanted to reach into the book and yell at her girl it's never gonna happen!!! Not that that's her fault but that's literally the only conflict. Notice how her life got better when she got a Black bestie? Yeah exactly.


Also the voice actress for the audio book Kristolyn Lloyd was so amazing I looked her up to see what else she's done. I'm so happy she's gonna read the sequel too! She gave so much life to the characters and the narration! Ugh! Finally some good fucking food! 5 stars for Kristolyn Lloyd!
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The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

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dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

At first I was like boo I’m not gonna have sympathy for the school shooter but then the writing is good enough that I did except I like that the school shooter had the awareness to know he was wrong. Love when characters are aware of their delusions. Love the parallels of the characters. Or maybe I’m thinking of the term foils. Anyway, I loved it so much. I’ll be reading whatever Douglass does next.
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Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

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

4.25

Manic pixie dream Stargirl. Another story that only works because the kids are all white. Still, I got a lot of goosebumps. I too am that autistic girl who just doesn't understand society.
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Miss Quinces by Kat Fajardo

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funny
  • 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

4.0

I giggled aplenty.
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