jaduhluhdabooks's reviews
299 reviews

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I mean. I’m still reeling in complicated and convoluted ways. Like. What. Rio is meticulous in their writing in a way that doesn’t necessarily need all the details to tell the story. There’s raw emotional attachment to these words and I felt them in each of the characters displays.

I think this novel is crafty and intriguing and new in a rich way. I also think it showcases a side of classical education that many (usually rich white folx) fail to acknowledge. It also is just devastating to watch these characters grapple with their inner most struggles and insecurities and repeatedly make the choice to shield them rather than heal them.

The ending. Ouch. But I should’ve seen it coming. Romeo and Juliet, makes sense and then also… is the show still going on? If you know, you know. It’s beautifully written and pretentiously told with its cracks and crinkles of the characters lives and the connection found in these relationships but also the revelation. It’s just a wild book. Semi intense in its themes, but ultimately a good read and of course a questioning end.

Content Warnings

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I’m not fine. I haven’t been for a while, and I blamed you for so long because the last thing you ever did was teach me how much loving can hurt. I loved you and you left anyway…If I heal and move on, I’m worried I’ll finally lose you for good. But I want to be healthy. And I want to be happy, though I’ve never trusted happiness. To me, happiness is a fleeting, heartbeat-to-heartbeat experience that comes and goes and hopefully comes back. I worry happily-ever-afters don’t exist for people like us.

I’m actually hurting. This book was so incredibly raw I don’t even think I have all the words yet. I find it hard that so many reviewers and readers haven’t loved this book. It’s so vivid in its honesty about regret and love. And maybe it’s because I’ve experienced the richness of pain that Helen endured in losing a sister she shared shattering last words with. Or I understand all too well the weight of mother wounds and how disjointing they are. Or I carry the overwhelming fear that I’m unlovable and so I keep those words and those feelings and those dreams of vibrant and wild living locked because of a scarcity mindset.

I just get it. I get Grant’s connection to all people while simultaneously having no people. I get Helen’s need to produce something that people need so that they’ll keep you around longer. I get the fear of losing people who you so desperately hope will stay. I just get it. And their story was convoluted and filled with real loss and pain and I get we didn’t get to see them work through it all on the pages of a book but I also think that’s what makes this story so beautiful and true. That healing on your on and healing with someone are two avenues that you can take and in this case. Them healing to together makes so much sense because they’ve experienced the same trauma and yet it has manifested so differently. They trust each other to grow and heal and love each other in their wounded-ness and their health. Both matter. Both will resurface as life goes on. It’s important to know that side of your partner and to learn how to love them in it not just through it.

It is a masterpiece. Dare I say. Love that Yulin is screenwriting “People We Meet on Vacation” - Em knows there’s rich talent here and I’m excited to see more of her works come alive on paper and on the screen.

Content Warnings

I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith, and Being Black in America by Tyler Merritt

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Black brilliance is out there. And if, as a society, we are going to make an effort to find brilliance, that brilliance just can’t be one color. We need to find it all.

Wow. What a memoir. One I’m grateful to have sat and listened to. The experience of the Black man in America is one that is simultaneously joyful and a heart wrenching. Tyler captures both elements of these realities well and does so with humor and gusto and authenticity.

“Proximity breathes empathy.” I resonate so deeply with that and I think this truth sits at the crux of so much division. Because we don’t expose ourselves or allow our hearts and minds to know the souls of those who are vastly different from us we loose out on so much life and love. I think for whiteness the privilege of power is not worth the privilege of care and true joy and friendship that is found sharing culture and heritage with another individual. The richness that empathy provides can’t be bought… and it cost so much to decline empathies offer. We’ve seen it throughout history. It has cost so much, and it’s been paid in blood.

I think Tyler is a powerful speaker with so much to say and does it in an entertaining and valued way. I love to see a Black man thrive. Also Tyler loves his people and I love that.

Content Warnings