tailmon's reviews
70 reviews

Basically cute and effective at prompting introductory thinking about ableism and accessibility. Difficult to imagine as yuri though. But I can do it

Really quite magical but the very last chapter brought it way down for me… I didn’t really like the inclusion or the handling of the stuff with John either. Basically a book with Woman Problems and few others. 

Really such a beautiful and tragic sliver of history to choose to set story in and I am grateful to McCaughrean for that. I love you great auk I love you seabirds!!!

I love everything about this book - a loving mother who is unable to spend much time with her child and is not judged for it, the modelling of emotional regulation through deep breathing, the depiction of Black hair care, the unwavering love and positivity, and of course the beautiful collage illustrations!

I’m a bit out of practice reading comics so maybe that contributed but man I did not like this one. The narration was too much, I have no idea why the couple in it like each other, and the potion making aspect is so sidelined I don’t know why this is even set in a magical universe. Good discussion of depression I guess but it’s sublimated by a weak metaphor and I would rather that be part of a story than being the main story. The cracking panels effect originating from Joana’s chest is a good trick but it’s the only one this book has up its sleeve. 

I’m interested by the author’s note describing the original Spanish version as more “raw” and emotional - I feel like I might have preferred that to the reasoned dialogue about feelings throughout that just made this boring to read. 

Why isn’t anyone closeted in these books anymore. Where’s the drama! Where’s the juice! But seriously folks. This book is like intensely readable but I think I kind of hate it. 

I think the book really suffers from how much the romance is marketed on the jacket. Like if the front flap description didn’t advertise that Ryan and Wilson had kissed (which is not emphasized in the book to the extent it is there) it would be less obvious that that was where the book was heading and anything to do with Annie might seem actually worthwhile. I don’t think the concept for this book as a YA novel is one where there is no version where the titular character was ever going to not go back to being dead at the end, but this story doesn’t really sell why she doesn’t get to - like, she was involved in righting some pretty big wrongs it seems like, but for Wilson’s arc to make sense she has to fuck off and die. 

I hate how everyone in this book is Basically Good. Your ex-friend’s mom and your sister’s dad’s new wife who have treated you cruelly are just going through their own stuff and you love them by the end. There isn’t a problem with narratives like that but literally EVERYONE. In this book. Has been secretly nice all along. It becomes annoying to read about how much a protagonist thinks she’s a loser everyone hates when they don’t really get vindicated in any way at all. 

I think the supernatural elements in this book were under-utilized! I don’t necessarily want the mechanics of Welcome Back explained but the stuff surrounding the bus to the afterlife is one of the coolest parts of this book and I would just like to see more of the weirdness about Lennon. I don’t really know where to put this remark but it’s worth noting that this book is also completely white in a completely unexamined way like no other book I’ve read this year has been. 

Okay but the absolute strangest thing about this book is how much its bisexual female characters are in disbelief that a woman with a shaved head could look good. What are you fucking talking about. 

I didn't know this was a novel in verse when I picked it up and was pleasantly surprised! And I like how it leaves that mode when different modes of communication are being represented. I would have liked to see more variation in the white space a bit more often though!

Very empathetic story, easy to see why it won the Schneider Family award with its sensitive and understanding portrayals of both anxiety/agoraphobia in the protagonist character and depression in the love interest. I super love how whole all of the characters feel with the variations in their skills and beliefs and interests. Really raw depiction of systematic police violence and how it affects Black people's lives in various ways; it is a deft story in acknowledging how Sadie's fear of the outside world is extreme and debilitating, but not unfounded for her as a Black person.

Very sweet little book! The central structural device is interesting and effective in endearing us to the characters and there’s such clever and playful use of language throughout, elevated by Guy Lockard’s reading of it. Just a very sweet and positive slice-of-life romance, and I like that it is able to be that with a male POV. Seems useful for recommendation to teens who might not otherwise enjoy romance.

It’s an ongoing thing in Skip Beat where I have trouble following the direction of the text sometimes moreso than in other manga - maybe because there’s so much overlapping dialogue/inner monologue stuff. But anyway that issue especially stood out in this volume I found. 

I felt like the end of the angel arc dragged a little and the volume ended in a weird place, but it did successfully get me excited for the next volume!

Hmm. Wow. A bit hard to get into but feels like a miraculous book by the end of it. I think it would be best read in a shorter amount of time than I took so you can remember the beginning better, but that forgetting is also something the book expects of you in some ways. But it is such a carefully built book I wish I could look at each piece more clearly. 

This is catalogued as junior fiction at my city library, but it won the Printz award for YA fiction. I can see how that came about. The non-standard storytelling feels more at home in a middle grade novel, and the 12 year old protagonist recalling his childhood leans that way as well, but me thinking that suggests a view of YA as a literature that has a standard, rote structure. It doesn’t have to be. 

Irritating and frustrating overall but not without appeal. Some of Hazelwood’s worst habits include constant references to vague events to the point that when they’re “revealed” they’ve been obvious for ages and nonstop quips and jokes in hip with the kids lingo - some of them are bound to hit for any reader, but the hit/miss ratio wasn’t good for me. I think Karissa Vacker’s excellent reading helped smooth the latter aspect over, though. 

I was surprised that I didn’t find the actual romantic pairing in this book too objectionable - I was expecting a brooding and cold male love interest of the type I most despise - but the protagonist is painfully oblivious to Nolan’s feelings and her own long past the point where it’s believable or entertaining. I think a nonmonogamous bisexual protagonist is a cool thing for a YA book to have, but while she isn’t outright shamed for it, I feel the book’s trajectory of her abandoning hookups for a committed monogamous relationship still frames it as an immature relationship model that people are bound to move past. 

It’s entertaining how much everyone in this book cares about chess. Ostensibly a realist novel, this book actually takes place in Chess World, and it’s fun to make a visit to Chess World, where normal people care about contemporary chess players. However I didn’t really like how much the book insists on Mallory taking chess seriously, like it would be wrong for her to have a second job in addition to being a chess player. I find the book a bit overly cruel to its protagonist at times in general - there are situations where her wrongdoings are emphasized and those she is in conflict with have their actions brushed over. 

Overall I think I’d need to read more YA romance to see where this one sits, but I have trouble thinking of a situation I’d recommend this book in.