skudiklier's reviews
602 reviews

Pomegranate by Helen Elaine Lee

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book has so much heartbreak and pain and frustration and hope. I'm really glad I read it, especially when for a little bit there I was worried it would just be hurt after hurt, but knew I was going to push through regardless. Pomegranate is very much about the past and the present, and how we are all of our past selves at once. It's about growth and change in combination with not being able to fully escape your past. It's about queer love, and the way society sets some people up to fail, and the bravery it takes to open up to others. It's so so beautiful and I would highly recommend it. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the chance to read and review this ARC. 
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Sugar and Surrender by Scarlet King

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

5.0

This book is exactly what I needed after the cliffhanger of the first one--I love getting to see more of the group dynamics here, and learn more about how bonds work. I was curious too how this book would work given where the last one ended (and thus where this one had to start), but Scarlet King pulled it off spectacularly. This book felt full of the same tension and suspense as the last one, and had a couple surprising moments that made me gasp. I'll miss these characters but this was a great way to end the series and I'd definitely recommend reading Sugar and Surrender (especially if you read Honey and Hellfire--you need this closure!).

Thanks to Scarlet King and her team for the chance to read and review this ARC.
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Rocket Fantastic: Poems by Gabrielle Calvocoressi

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reflective slow-paced

4.0

My feelings about this collection varied a lot depending on the poem. Some of them I absolutely loved, I wrote down quotes I liked, etc. But others I just couldn't get into. 
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Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

I really appreciate this book; I got so much out of it, and I would definitely recommend it. I might even like it more than How to Do Nothing. 

I do wish that I'd thought about the fact that I'd probably other to read this as an audiobook; it took me a while to get through this as-is, but still, it was definitely engaging. 

I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long time. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the chance to read and review this ARC. 
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Radiant Sin by Katee Robert

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emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? No

4.75

I really enjoyed this book, as with every other book in this series so far! There's a plot point about the ending bothering me, that at first I was going to talk more about, but then I realized maybe I'm just assuming it would go a different way than it will. So it bothers me less now (but just in case anyone else was thinking about it I'll still put it in spoiler tags at the bottom haha). Anyway, I really liked this book! I hope she keeps writing this series for sure, as I always look forward to them.

Spoilers for the ending ahead!! 
Okay I'm just like. If Cassandra is the witness at the end won't that cause issues since that's why everyone hates her family?? Like that feels like a big deal for her to be the witness that causes him to take the title. I was waiting for that shoe to drop, like, since half the reason she didn't want to stay in Olympus/with Apollo is that she hates the games the thirteen play, all the attention on them, etc. I thought it would be a source of tension at the end that there would be more attention on her, etc. And maybe it's just that no one will know she was the witness except the thirteen, and they don't care?? Idk. I just felt like that bit was unresolved. Even if there was a throwaway line addressing how that went I would have been satisfied. But anyway maybe it just wouldn't play out like I was imagining it so this doesn't bother me as much as it did right when I was finishing the book. But if anyone else was thinking this too please dm me or something (@skylerwitherspoon on IG or @skudiklier on Twitter lmao) I don't know anyone else who's read this book.
 
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You Just Need to Lose Weight: And 19 Other Myths about Fat People by Aubrey Gordon

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informative medium-paced

5.0

I thought Aubrey Gordon's first book was phenomenal and haven't stopped recommending it, but I'm probably going to have to switch to recommending this one to most folks instead--it just so clearly breaks down all of the things people say about anti-fat bias. I get into arguments and often don't know what to say or how to back up what I'm saying, and this book is the best resource for that. I only wish I had a physical copy so it would be easier to reference things, rather than the audiobook. For people who really do want to learn more, or at least take the time to understand this "side" of things, I'll definitely be trying to get them to read this book. It's so easy to get sidetracked in points that aren't really about the real issue here, and I love the way Gordon addresses those efficiently while still staying on-topic and bringing things back to the central issue at hand. I could not recommend this book enough.
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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I read this much more quickly and easily than I thought I would; I read Are You My Mother? a few years ago, and though I liked it a lot, I think it was denser, or slower, for me at least. Maybe I'll reread it now that I have the context of this book too. 

I don't really have a lot to say about this book, except that I liked it and would recommend it. 
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Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

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

4.25

I don't really know what to say when reviewing a classic--what can I say that hasn't already been said? I knew pretty much nothing about this book going in (not even the ending, which everyone else seemed to know), and I found it entertaining. My biggest problem was not liking most of the characters and thus not feeling super sympathetic towards some of their decisions. But I was invested in them regardless, and was invested in the story overall, and I'm glad I'm read it.
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Where the Men Come From by N.W. Downs

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This chapbook was absolutely stunning. I wasn't planning on taking notes while reading it, but then only a couple poems in I was just bursting with how much I loved certain lines/poems, and I just had to write it down somewhere. My notes weren't very eloquent (one of them was just "i have CHILLS this is so good and trans and good") but the point is I loved this book. I would read anything Downs writes. Also it's impossible to pick a favorite but I have to shout out Genesis 3:23 as an incredible poem.
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Above Ground by Clint Smith

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I just read this in one sitting; it was beautiful, and powerful, and I would definitely recommend it. 

The poems in this collection are about so many things, but more than anything they're about parenthood--and all the fears and joys that come along with it. 

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this ARC. 
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