kait_sixcrowsbooks's reviews
208 reviews

The memoir aspect of the first have the novel was interesting, as were the ideas that Frankl discusses, but I’m just not on board with his theory. It’s thought-provoking, but to me, it just doesn’t really hold up very well.

Margaret Rogerson has such a way with the written word…my god. What a book. I loved everything about it: the plot, the characters and their relationships, the world-building, the atmosphere… What a glorious, glorious novel. I cannot wait for the next one.

I don’t know what to say except…wow. What a truly wonderful book. Imogen, Obviously is a book that simply took my breath away. Reading Imogen’s internal conflict as she tried so so hard to be the “perfect” ally according to Gretchen’s ever changing ideas and then having to overcome the thought that she is somehow “appropriating” queer culture when she finds herself crushing on another girl….it was hard. It was hard because it hit so close to home in so many different ways while also being a distinct experience apart from my own. But it was also so so amazing, and I felt such a connection to Imogen.

It’s also pretty heartbreaking because throughout the story, I saw Gretchen as this humanized version of the twitter discourse that surrounded the whole thing about the author feeling forced to come out due to harassment from readers because they assumed she was allocishet. It was just…monstrous. And I’m so glad she wasn’t redeemed at the end because Imogen deserved a friend that would actually care about and support her like Lili did with her.

Just…man. What a book.

Thank you to Maia Kobabe from a panromantic asexual genderqueer person. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Someone get this man an editor…jfc

So here’s the thing: I originally read this book back in undergrad for a class called Reading and Resisting Sexual Violence. It was a fascinating class, and I learned a lot, both from my two instructors and my peers. I genuinely enjoyed it. I read most of the chapters of Unscrewed for the class so a good majority of the book was something that I already read. However, it was really interesting to read back through my annotations from five years ago, some quips that I don’t really understand the context anymore. But I also truly enjoyed the chapters that I read for the first time. It was all super informative, and it made me feel like I was back in my GWS program again, of which I felt a bit nostalgic about.

However, do I think Friedman set out for what the blurb/summary described on the inside flap? I’m not sure. There was a lot of talk about fauxpowerment as a concept on the flap, but I think only one or two chapters dedicated themselves to it. There were quite a few organizations and women forefronting those organizations that were described, which I thought were really cool. But there only seemed to be a few pages dedicated to what “regular” people can do when they can’t shift their lives towards one of full-time activism. Overall, while it was still an interesting book and I enjoyed myself walking through memory lane, I thought Unscrewed’s argument was simply okay — not too bad, but certainly not the best.

My first Emily Henry book, and it was wonderful! I enjoyed the balance between the serious aspects of both Gus and January’s lives and their progressing relationship. The side characters were interesting, though I wished we saw a bit more of Sonia on-page. I felt like she was there for like 2 scenes and that’s it. But otherwise, the story was fun, and I’ll definitely be checking out Henry’s other books!

Ahhh, this was so so good! What a wonderful book, honestly. It was a friend rec for that 12 friend recs in 12 months meme thing that was going around booktwt in the beginning of the year, and I’m so glad Kaz recc’d it to me!

Ace of Shades is the first book in a YA fantasy series that follows good-girl Enne trying to find her adoptive mother Lourdes and gang lord Levi who’s trying to get out from underneath an immense debt. I know one of the comps is Six of Crows and while I don’t really agree wholeheartedly, I do think that there’s a similar vibe, especially in the later half of the book.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the book — the characters were engaging, and I thought the plot was interesting. While I was a bit lost re: the worldbuilding and the different families and such, it wasn’t enough that I was completely confused on what was going on. I think it’s one of those things you pick up more as you go throughout the series. The beginning was a tad slow, but I think the story starts to really take hold and shine once you get past the first hundred pages. And even the first part of the book isn’t necessarily bad — I was enjoying the deep dive as Enne explored New Reynes trying to look for Lourdes. It just took a while to fully grip me is all.

But yeah, I really can’t wait to see what’s next for this crew of characters; I can tell it’s gonna be something big.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Y’all, this short story has my HEART, oh my goodness. I’m so glad I requested an ARC from the author because this was so cute.

By Your Side by Margherita Scialla is a short story about Emma, a bi allo college student who recently caught her boyfriend cheating and broke up with him. She lives with her life-long friend Dawson and their friend they both met in college, Noah, who is aromantic. Emma spends the story working through her feelings not only towards Noah, but also about her prior relationships in general.

I thought this story was simply lovely. The short story format, while not something I’m entirely familiar with as they aren’t something I look out for on a regular basis, really helped the narrative in my opinion. I feel like if it was anymore drawn out, it wouldn’t be as poignant. In a way — and I mean this in the best way possible — it feels as if it were written like a fanfic would be. There seems to be an assumption that, at the very least, we know and care about who these characters are so while we are given a bit of background on how they meet, the story isn’t bogged down.

The writing itself was quick to read and easy. If I didn’t start it so late in the afternoon, I definitely would have finished this in one sitting because I loved how the story just seemed to flow. The focus was mainly on Emma as she processed through her break-up, her previous relationships, and (most of all) her relationships with both Dawson and Noah and how they differed from each other. I loved this deep-dive we see, and honestly I wish we saw more of it. I really think this could have made a wonderful novella, something that would have allowed for more depth. Not to say that I thought this story was shallow in any way, but I did feel that there were parts I wish we could have seen more of, such as the aspect of being in a queer-platonic relationship with an aro person as you’re allo. But also, who am I kidding, I also truly enjoyed the characters and wish I could’ve seen more of them, if only for my own benefit, lol.

Seriously, though, By Your Side is a wonderful little story, and I hope it can warm others’ hearts as it did mine.

Y’all. Oh my god. What a phenomenal book.

Putting aside Yalom’s fatphobia and misogyny (because yeesh, there was lots of it, and I hope he did work through that on his own time like he mentioned), this book really spoke to me. His analysis of his clients, especially when it pertained to more existential ideas such as death anxiety, was truly enlightening. I thought a lot about how certain bits and pieces from each case pertained to me and what that means for me.

An instructor recommended this book to my class a while ago, and I’m glad he did. It made me think a lot.