jaduhluhdabooks's reviews
299 reviews

The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet by Leah Thomas

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informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Very informative and such an important narrative to add to the conversation of justice!! 
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Reckless by Elsie Silver

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funny lighthearted 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

1.5

Powerless by Elsie Silver

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funny lighthearted fast-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

2.0

Flawless by Elsie Silver

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

1.75

I’m confused on how people like these books with such poor syntax, plot, and character development. I’m actually disgusted lol. 
False Start by Kandi Steiner

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

3.0

Twisted Games by Ana Huang

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

4.0

CLARISSE AND JOE ARE HAPPY. 
Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana

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

2.5

Ok, you know when your close friend comes up to you and is like "I have a secret talent... I can sing." And you're excited for them so you happily take a seat to listen and immediately when they start you just know they can't sing and no one in their life has been kind enough to tell em? Well, that's what this book felt like. Someone isn't being honest with our girl during editing.
I am here and will always be down for a Black protagonist and Black love and everything Black. Always rooting for that and also, I want to read a good book. But the writing was subpar at best and I think I'm being kind when I say that. It was choppy and wildly disorganized. I could hardly follow transitions when they happened and EVERYTHING about Lore and her love interests felt forced and wasn't even given enough room to develop. The timing is soooo weird, and while the author is telling me 2 weeks have passed it's felt more like 2 months and when 2 months has passed it's felt more like 2 weeks. 
The design of world is also interesting and discombobulating. Like I barely understand the difference in the fae lineages and species and also, ain't no WAY, she get out that queens castle the way she did. I luh? g 
I'm also not bought into Lore. Like she seems wildly childish to me, and while I was ok with that in the beginning because I love a good coming of age story, the moments that were clearly supposed to constitute as her growth, didn't align for me nor make sense for how I understood her character. Also, Asher - babes. Saw that coming from the beginning. YOU BOTH WERE GONE FROM THE CASTLE AT THE SAME TIME AND ONLY ONE OF YOU ARRIVED BACK AND THEN LATER THE OTHER!?. nah. 
Everything felt predictable and I think Finn is WILDLY underdeveloped but a character I actually want to know. It was just boring and hard for me to stay engaged. Overall, underwhelmed and sad because I wanted to LOVE it. But I won't let this stop me from reading Black fantasy!! It matters !!! And I have high hopes for the second boook! A debut is hard!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

A gorgeous novel that takes the intersecting lives of six human beings, a ghost, and a magical café and pulls at the heart strings of deep loss, regret, and acceptance. Over the course of a few months, Toshikazu introduces us to the lives of these characters, their deepest turmoils and wants and dreams. I quickly became so attached the narrative of grief that was real amongst them all, but also the beauty of joy found and lived in the midst of such intense grief. 
I often don't have words for how I'm so "joyful" having experienced so much pain, but simply friendship is the balm. Having people to do the good and hard days with makes it so worth it and real and normal. I don't know what I would do if I could go back and talk to someone who passed or in the future, someone I could know...but I do know that I wouldn't give up the chance even if just for a little while, to have a conversation, to gaze and smile back at someone, before the coffee got cold.
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

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

3.75