alyxthebookdragon's reviews
136 reviews

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

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informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa

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dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Go Luck Yourself by Sara Raasch

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I love an excellent sequel! If you loved the prince of Halloween, just wait till you meet the prince of St Patrick's Day. This has got the same reverence for love, the same heart-wrenching self realizations as Kissmass, and a little bit of overcoming generational trauma alongside amazing siblings and friends. The plot points for St Patrick's were interesting, different enough from the Christmas kingdom to be interesting but no less fraught. There are definitely a lot of parallels between the two romance plots, but this is from Kris's point if view which i think is closer to Hex's arc. I liked seeing that kind of perspective and seeing how it brought Hex and Kris closer. I also enjoy the Patrick siblings a lot, more characters to love and be excited about! It was really fun hearing (the audio book was excellent) Kris and Loch some together. Another great book for the holidays. The perfect blend of silly and earnest.

Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quiñonez

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

All The Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows

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3.0

The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

There is a great amount of pain in leaving the place you grew up in because you aren't sure all of you could ever fit there. This book talks about the pain of leaving, the pain of being left behind, the joy of finding your people but the ache of everything you had to leave behind. What did you have to do to survive, and how could your life have been different if you hadn't had to have made those choices?

Overall, I think this speaks to the deep pain of rural queer kids really well. The main character left his home town to find his place and his people while his best friend stayed behind and made room for himself and his people there. They spend the book trying to reconcile the hurt they both left behind in each other and figuring out how to move forward.

There were a few places I felt the pacing was slow or the descriptions too long and got pulled out of the book a little bit. The main character is super messy, but aren't we all? Those are really the only marks against it I could find. Other than that, this is definitely a trans book I will be recommending.

Jade City by Fonda Lee

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced