jennxreviews's reviews
281 reviews

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

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challenging dark sad tense fast-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


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James by Percival Everett

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adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0


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The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones

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challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

I grew up in the Southeast and attended school in the 80s. Desegregation was a big issue when it came to schools and bussing. I was raised on a diet of the Civil War (or just "the war") being called "the war of Northern aggression." When I would ask family about the Civil Rights movement, I would get told that they didn't pay attention or that they were just rabble rousing. I was only taught the highlights in school, emancipation, Emmett Till, Brown v. Board of Education, and MLK's I have a dream speech. It wasn't until 2010 that my area started talking about what happened during the civil rights movement. 50 years after Axe Handle Saturday and when bleach was poured into a hotel pool because black people were in it, they were finally creating a civil rights history trail. I've been making it a point to fill in the gaps and educate myself, because ignorance is not an excuse when there is so much information available. This book gave me a different side of American History. It was enlightening, sickening, and angering. So much of the US was forged on fear. Still is being forged on fear. Fear of the other. It's time for a change and to go forward past the fear. 

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Displaced: Goshway's Journey by Katherine Schlatter

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hopeful sad fast-paced

5.0

 
This is review is part of Kate Rock Book Tours - 

Displaced - Goshway's Journey is an immersive non-fiction graphic novel that takes you into the journey of a young boy and his family as they are forced to flee from their land in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. They go from living in a refugee camp in India to returning to Bangladesh to live with a relative. This story explores the trials, traumas, and heartbreak of losing your home and your ethnic identity, and reclaiming that identity. Being able to read and listen to this story painted a full picture and made it more accessible. It is a great story for teaching empathy and comes with trauma informed guides and supplementary materials to learn more about the clearing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. This is a great book for parents and teachers alike. 

This non-fiction graphic novel is the first of its kind, combining illustrations with QR codes to give readers a dramatized radio play with simple animation and subtitles.

Supplemental historical material and trauma-informed guides for educators and recovering survivors, which we call “TIGERS Tools,” are also available with the e-book or print book membership at displaced.thence.us

 

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Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

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

4.0

Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America by Joy-Ann Reid

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0


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Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

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emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

No one should have to hide their light, their truth. Everyone deserves to be seen. The sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea, as beautiful and heart bubble bursting as the first. A book about found family, community, standing for what you believe in and not hiding who you are. I loved this book. It's beautifully written and it made my eyes leak. Arthur and Linus are together on the island with the kids, but members of the government have other plans for the children.  I loved everything about this book.  A running theme throughout the books is this poem "Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words -And never stops - at all -" - Emily Dickinson.  

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The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

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emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book. This book is just beautiful. The writing is like a gorgeous prose. It's about looking beyond the surface of what you're taught to see to what is actually there. It's ahout home and family. The story is from the point of view of Linus who is a children's services caseworker who's sent on a special assignment to observe an orphange for a month and what he found there was so much more than what he was looking for.  I am not a weepy person but this book made my eyes leak and my heart bubble pop. I've never wanted to annotate and mark a book so much in my life that wasn't a textbook. I want to read it again just so I can write comments and thoughts on it.

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Blood Sine Qua Non by Raven Belasco

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dark emotional fast-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

This starts where Blood Ex Libris ended. Noosh signed up to be an archivist for the Am'r (vampires) and ended up getting so much more. As an Am'r-nafsh (half-human/half-vamp), Noosh has been exposed to the violent and sensual side of the Am'r world. She's starting to get her sea legs though and is no helpless kee (human) anymore. Definitely spicy but it is spicy for relationship building not just spice for spice sake.  I listened to and read this. Amber Benson is an awesome narrator who makes the language come to life.  

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Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

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

4.5

Sometimes the movie that's made but never seen becomes a cult classic because it's never seen. Horror Movie is about the story behind that and the inevitable remake/reboot of it.  It's dark, twisted, cruel, and what happens when too much of yourself is put into a role. It's beyond just method acting. I enjoyed the story within the story and the script bits. I listened and read it. the audiobook is a different experience that I highly recommend.

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