Kim and her mom moved from Hong Kong to New York looking for a better life. However, when they arrived in NY, nothing was like Kim’s aunt had promisedKim and her mom moved from Hong Kong to New York looking for a better life. However, when they arrived in NY, nothing was like Kim’s aunt had promised them. Instead of working as a teacher for her sister’s son, Kim’s mom spends her days working on her sister’s fabric, with illegal contracts and precary conditions, and with a wage so low that Kim, only eleven, has to help her after school. They live in a flat with no windows or heating, infested with rats and bugs, and struggle to comprehend a world that speaks a completely different language. But they don’t give up, because little Kim is determined to transform her academic talents into a way out.
I wrongly picked up this book thinking it was a biography, but I loved it the same. I couldn’t help but care about little Kim, so I couldn’t stop reading until I reached the end. It’s one of those stories that keeps moving you forward, hoping for everything to finally be alright. It was hard to read at times, but it also had great moments. I liked that nobody was perfect, but some characters were more gray than others, and you won’t be able to care about the good ones.
The book took a turn I didn’t love by the end, but I have to give it to the author for the bold move-even if I thought she was going to be even bolder. I don’t agree with Kim's decisions. I think I'd have preferred the boldest choice for the author, but it was better than other alternatives so I was okay about it. I can see how it would bother a lot of readers, though, so I’m fascinated that the average rating right now is almost 4 stars.
Maybe, like me, people appreciate this book for what it was: Kim’s story, and she deserved to make her own choices. I’d recommend this book if you are interested in reading about an immigrant girl who is brilliant at maths but terrible at English, and how she tries to survive surrounded by privileged kids who call her a liar when she admits she has to work after class. The pacing was really good and, even though I would have liked to have a different final problem, I felt good when I finally closed the book....more
This book has been sitting on my shelves since I read The Kite Runner by the author. I was afraid of it. The Kite Runner destroyed me, and it was abouThis book has been sitting on my shelves since I read The Kite Runner by the author. I was afraid of it. The Kite Runner destroyed me, and it was about two men. This was about women: I knew it was going to be even worse. Using the author's own explanation:
Women suffered not only through the bombings and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas like everybody else, not only were beaten and tortured and humiliated and imprisoned, not only had their fundamental human rights violated over and over again, but in large numbers also suffered from gender-based abuse. They were abducted and sold as slaves, forced into marriage to militia commanders, forced into prostitution, and raped ().
It was as painful as I thought it was going to be. It made me so angry I wanted to scream at the world. I hate that I can’t cross this as fiction, because what happened to the two main characters were two realities of the millions of stories out there. I hate that, while I was reading this book, one of my (female) classmates was followed home by another (male) classmate (she’s okay). I know not all men are like that, but it just makes me so angry that we, as women, continue to suffer this kind of behaviour in every single place, country and period of time. Will we ever feel safe like men do?
It’s sad because this is coming from someone who lives in Spain. I can’t imagine the reality of women who live in countries where law doesn’t see them as equal to men, punish them for things men do and where they can’t have an education or visit a doctor. Where they are nothing more than a men’s property. How is it that men have been able to subjugate the other half of the population?
But back to the book, it was brilliant (hence my very strong emotions towards this). The story starts with a little five-year-old Mariam. She’s a harami, a bastard, lives with a mother that is mentally unstable and, at sixteen, is forced to marry an old man.
We switch to Laila then: a young teenager eager to study, daughter of a family broken by the war. Her mother’s too worried for her sons, who are fighting at the war, to care for her. She only has her father, a former teacher who is trying to keep the family alive, and her best friend. But war has a habit of destroying every good thing and Laila will do whatever it takes to survive. Even if that means getting in a darker hole.
Mariam was a character I loved. She went from a naive, kind child to a broken woman. There were scenes she had to endure that made me want to vomit. I don't know what was worse: the abuse or seeing how the abuse shaped her into something unrecognizable. Her character arc was breathtaking and she ended up being the character I respected the most.
() She understood then wat Nana meant, that ‘harami’ was an unwanted thing; that she, Mariam, was an illegitimate person who would never have legitimate claim to the things other people had, things such as love, family, home, acceptance.
I can’t compare Laila and Mariam because they came from different backgrounds. But I loved Laila’s resilience. It was encouraging to see her fighting for a better life without losing hope.
Reading this book was awful because it felt so real. There were times where you thought they were going to finally go alright, only for everything to crumble and put them even in a worse place than the one they were escaping from. It was heartbreaking to see but, as I said before, it would have been too good to be true. I think the author walked a very fine line, giving us a bit of hope, some happy endings in exchange of a lot of awful ones.
I wished this book was longer. There were times where I wanted to continue in a POV and the author would move the plot further. I suffered when we changed from Mariam to Laila, I hated not being able to see how she was doing. But I’m aware the pacing was that way because the author had a lot to tell, so this is just me being annoyed over nothing.
Overall, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a historical fiction that doesn’t feel like fiction at all. It’s going to move you and make you angry, but you are going to endure it all because you are going to fall in love with the characters. This is one of those books I think everyone should read, to be aware of what happened, what’s happening right now. Reality hurts, but sometimes it’s time to hurt and stop seeing the other way.
“Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.”
Una historia de amor y amistades truncadas durante la alemania nazi.
Nota: He de empezar admitiendo que conozco personalmente a la autora, por lo que Una historia de amor y amistades truncadas durante la alemania nazi.
Nota: He de empezar admitiendo que conozco personalmente a la autora, por lo que leer este libro me ha hecho especial ilusión. El libro está dividido en dos volúmenes, esta reseña es de la historia completa (vol. I, II).
Pese a contar con alguna historia de amor, Flores de Enero es en esencia un libro de amistad (lo sé, llevo años pidiendo más libros sobre amistad). Sus protagonistas son dos amigos, Alex y Ariadna (si bien él es el foco principal), que viven en un pequeño pueblo alemán en 1934. Alex no es sino un reflejo de la vida durante el auge el auge del nazismo y la consecuente guerra, centrándose especialmente en la discriminación y maltrato sufridos por parte del colectivo homosexual.
Flores de Enero es un libro para amantes de los personajes. La primera mitad del tomo I (este libro está dividido en dos tomos) está dedicada a que conozcamos en detalle a los protagonistas. Ariadna es mi favorita: se siente mucho más real que Alex y es muy fácil empatizar con ella. A lo largo del libro, Ariadna sufre en silencio por amar a Alex sin ser correspondida, luchando siempre por ser la mejor amiga para él. Siento que el amor entre ellos es muy bonito, si bien me hubiera encantado que Ariadna hubiera dejado de estar enamorada de alguien que nunca la podría corresponder.
Alex es un adolescente que a veces cuesta creerse. Es bueno, listo, guapo, atento, educado, empático… Sin embargo, pese a ser un personaje bastante idealizado, no me resultó aburrido porque tiene una personalidad muy marcada que lo salvó de caer en ese pozo de personajes perfectos intercambiables entre sí. La propia autora me comentó que ahora escribe personajes más complejos, más del estilo de Ariadna, que no siempre actúan de forma idónea pero resultan más reales.
Al principio, la novela está dedicada casi exclusivamente a la introducción de los personajes. Aunque soy una persona que ama leer libros centrados en los personajes, considero que el mayor problema de la novela es el ritmo de esta primera parte. Muchas descripciones son redundantes al lado de anécdotas y escenas que muestran precisamente la naturaleza del personaje.
Este hecho hace que la lectura de la primera parte sea más lenta de lo que debiera y no refleja el ritmo del resto de la novela: una vez pasada la introducción, el tomo I va cogiendo velocidad hasta llegar al tomo II. Es en este segundo tomo donde la autora muestra su verdadero potencial: alternando pasado y presente da lugar a una narrativa que te engancha y no te deja respirar hasta llegar al final.
Su otro punto fuerte es la prosa. Es una maravilla, la forma en la que da vida a la historia, y me parece increíble que lo haya escrito con sólo 18 años (publicado con 19). Estoy cansada de leer libros con una prosa terrible de autores famosos que llevan docenas de libros publicados, por lo que ha sido un verdadero placer dejarme llevar por sus palabras.
En resumen, disfruté mucho leyendo Flores de Enero. Hay partes de la historia, como el hecho de que falte ritmo al inicio o que ciertos personajes estén idealizados, donde me falta la mano de un editor (Raquel me comentó que no cambiaron nada de su borrador inicial), o un poco más de experiencia. En cualquier caso, es un debut del que debería estar muy orgullosa y que recomiendo a aquellos a los que les gusten los personajes, los libros de amor y amistad, y estén interesados en seguir la vida de un chico homosexual en la época de la Alemania nazi....more
Lay Your Sleeping Head (newer version of Little Death, published in 1986) is the first book of gay mystery series set in San Francisco in the 80s.
Lay Your Sleeping Head (newer version of Little Death, published in 1986) is the first book of gay mystery series set in San Francisco in the 80s.
‘The thing you have to ask yourself is this. If you’re in the business of saving people, are you going to let the next one die because you weren’t able to save the last one?’
The main character is Henry Rios, a very talented Latino criminal defense lawyer with a heart made of gold. After losing a case where his innocent client was sentenced to death, Henry’s struggling to see the point of his work when handsome Hugh Paris bursts into his life. Hugh is a mystery, a rich boy who's also a liar and a drug addict. Despite the different backgrounds, there is something in Hugh's eyes that Henry can’t stop thinking about. Soon, Henry is investigating a murder he only half believes in and is putting everyone around him in danger.
This is one of those books that start good only to get better and better.I wasn’t expecting so many things that happened here, I’m still in awe about how this ended-the author did us so dirty, I liked that character!! Henry is the type of person you can’t help but love. He always thinks the best of people without being too naïve and I can’t help but admire his sense of justice. You’ll spend half the time cheering on him and the other half worrying about him because he trusts people way too easily for my poor heart-but somehow he often chooses the good ones.
‘No guy has ever not wanted something from me.’ ‘I didn’t say I didn’t want something from you,’ I said. ‘It’s just isn’t sex.’
There is something about books set around the 80s that speaks to me. The fact that the original version was published during that time only makes it more genuine. You can’t help but feel along with the characters because that was the reality for queer people when the book was written. Michael Nava’s narrative is bold and in the face and I knew I wanted to read this series just because of that. I’ve said before that I’m tired of generic writing styles so this book and Two is a Pattern (set in the 90s, maybe that’s the trick) were both like breathing fresh air.
Overall, Henry Rios has the potential to be a new favorite gay thriller and you couldn’t imagine how excited that makes me feel. It’s not a mm romance or a romance-thriller, even if there is mm romance inside, so don't pick it up expecting a romance! I would highly recommend it if you like the genre and the historical period, it was very solid even if I wished the ending was a bit more romantic.
Thank you so much Shile for your amazing reviews that made me want to give this series a try!...more
To be with her is a sin, to be without her is a tragedy
There are only a handful books outside my comfort zone that I dare myself to read e
To be with her is a sin, to be without her is a tragedy
There are only a handful books outside my comfort zone that I dare myself to read every year. I was definitely not expecting a Charles’ review to make me drop everything I was reading to start a historical fiction set in a small town in Ireland in the 90s. I was not expecting a debut’s writing to captivate me in a way very few authors had been able to. Although this is one of those hidden gems you find by chance, I have no doubts this author will someday be discovered worldwide.
Sunburn gives the raw picture of a girl who is starting to realize the gap between her and her friends; how she doesn’t care about boys yet she’s mesmerized by every daily action Susannah does. How she eats, how she moves, every single flaw that should make her less perfect but makes Lucy feel all hot inside. Although most of the book happens when Lucy is a teenager, the emotions are told from a mature POV, as if Lucy herself were narrating as an adult every single confusing thought that led her there. I adore how much I hated some characters, yet there wasn’t any real villain in the story. All of them were flawed people captive of their own traditions and beliefs.
All my life [my mum] has been my only role model, my greatest aspiration, but since I started to see her as a person beyond a parent, I have seen her as a grave misfortune, and now I cannot go back to the way I saw her before. Without all the mysticism of being my mother, she is just a woman, exactly like me, only with less time ahead of her () Maybe I’m just too immature, maybe I could be happy too. Really, I don’t even need to be happy, I just need to be the same as everybody else.
I was a thirteen when my mum caught my arm one day while I was heading to a swimming class and, in a serious voice I hadn’t heard before, said ‘Laura, you have to study, get a position so well-paid that, if someone has to give up their job to take care of the children, it won’t be you’. Then, she released me and left, as if the words that had left her mouth seconds ago never existed. I knew my mom, as a lot of mothers, had to sacrifice a lot to have me and my brother. But I never understood how much until that day. I’m sure I won’t be the only one feeling the pain when Lucy wondered if her mom would have been happier staying single, earning her own money, instead of erasing everything in her persona that wasn’t being a mother. But Lucy’s mom never caught her arm and encouraged her to study. Lucy’s mom still expected Lucy to follow her example, as if her own worth lied on seeing her only daughter dropping her dreams to continue the cycle.
If the book was told from Susannah’s POV, we would have wanted her to give up on Lucy. We would have hated the character who keeps refusing to compromise with someone as awesome as Susannah, who kept making choices that tried to make everyone around her happy while making her and Susannah miserable. But you are not following Susannah, you are following a girl who is too damn relatable to hate. A girl who still needs her mom’s love, and knows that she can’t have both her mom and Susannah. Who sees everything around her happening way too fast for her to catch up, who would need to suffer the pain first to understand the choices she had made may not have been the easier ones after all. I wished I was someone like Susannah, but I know every single decision Lucy made could have been my own.
It broke my heart how Susannah, Lucy and Martin ended up suffering because of the place they lived in. How Lucy kept using Martin to show people she was being the girl everyone wanted her to be, how Susannah kept dealing with her lover being with another person, how you couldn’t blame any of them. I hated what Lucy did to Martin, hated that deep down it was not her fault, but the society’s fault for wanting her to be something she was not.
Overall, Sunburn is a portrait of a queer teenager living in a rural town that wasn’t ready for someone like her. Of female friendship, mother-daughter relationships, the role expected from women and the restrictions people endure to keep old traditions alive. I would recommend it if you want something like Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, but adult instead of YA and with a writing that’s less lyrical but of matching quality.
Since I have known her, Susannah has been a flame in bloom. She took me from ash and made me human. I fear if she spends one more day in the garden, her flame will dwindle, and to ash I will return.
Are you like the girls in the book too? Because I think I am.
As often happens when a book that hits you the way Last Night at the Telegr
Are you like the girls in the book too? Because I think I am.
As often happens when a book that hits you the way Last Night at the Telegraph Club hit me, words seem too little and clumsy to explain how your heart feels when it remembers wandering through its pages. Let me use numbers instead:
I read over 90 books this year. This is the third book I’ve given 5 stars to.
I picked it up thinking it was a good YA book: one that sounded interesting enough to try despite not loving the genre, especially because I tend to make exceptions for sapphic romances-good adult sapphic romances are so hard to find. However, Last Night at the Telegraph Club reads like historical fiction/new adult with a heavy dose of sapphic love, touching themes like queer awakening, racism and patriarchy.
How Malinda Lo was able to add as many themes as she did, and do it so well, is beyond me. This year I’ve come to realize I’ve always loved reading historical fiction books set in the 20st century. I spent my teenage years reading fiction about the Spanish Civil War and WWII (mainly from a Jewish POV). Now I’m craving to learn about other situations, cultures and experiences.
Somehow, Malinda Lo was able to craft the story I’ve been wanting to hear this whole year. Reading about Chinese women during the Red Scare in America for the first time was fascinating, I learned and felt and suffered so much along with them. We are mainly following Lily, a teenage Chinese American who is discovering that some women love other women, that she may be one of them. On top of that, Lily wants to follow her aunt’s steps and be a mathematician in a field full of men.
There are a few chapters set in the past, following Lily’s aunt (Judy) and Lily’s parents. Though Judy only has two small chapters, her voice as a woman refusing to follow what society expected of her was a powerful addition to the story. She still didn’t avoid the guilt for sticking to her dreams.
She secretly wondered if her reluctance had doomed the unborn baby. She had been planning to apply for Ph.D. programs in mathematics when she got pregnant. She’d dreamed of continuing her studies, not having a baby. ()
She’d always been an oddity, not like normal girls who cooed over babies and put all their heart into planning and preparing and waiting for them. () Perhaps that meant there was something wrong with her, and her body had known that and had rejected motherhood.
In some ways, the guilt was more painful than the miscarriage.
The second highlight was how the awakening of Lily’s sexuality was described. Sometimes it’s so hard to find a good sapphic romance book that I keep giving up on them. But when you find a great one, there is nothing that hits the way lesbian love does; they linger in the little details that all the other romances seem to forget.
She had never noticed before that she and Kath were the same height. If she leaned forward just a little bit, her nose would graze Kath’s, and then they were touching gently, practically nuzzling each other, and it was funny and startling, and Lily giggled nervously while Kath let go of her hand and, deliberately, touched Lily’s waist. The feel of Kath’s hands sliding sound her body silenced her laughter.
But Lily is not only discovering her sexuality, she’s also discovering she would have to choose between being a good Chinese girl and following her will. Only that it never was a choice: she was born being a lesbian, and that reality is the difference between being someone’s daughter and being left alone in the street.
She began to feel as if she had been split in two, and only one half of her was here in this living room. That was the good Chinese daughter who was delicately chewing her way around the bones in each piece of hsün yü (). The other half had been left out on the sidewalk before Lily walked in the front door. That was the girl who had spent last night in a North Beach apartment of a Caucasian woman she barely knew. Everything would be alright, Lily understood, as long as she kept that girl out of this Chinese family.
The book also deals with being Chinese in the USA, through Lily’s parents you witness the Chinese situation from the 30s to the 50s. Lily herself suffers the consequences of what happened during the Cold War, the discrimination for being Chinese American added to the discrimination for being a lesbian in a time where queer people were considered ‘sexual deviates’ and queer bars were raided and shut down.
At the end of the book there's a section with a more in depth explanation of the conflicts depicted, along with historical facts that led the author to write the story the way she did. This book had made me realize how important lesbians were in the fight against patriarchy. The ones who decided not to marry men could follow a path that other women often ignored for the sake of settling down and having a family. If you are not taking care of the children, the house, the elderly and your husband, you can study and become a professional in fields that were reserved for men. Lesbian women, by living alone or with other women, evade the traditional division of power and often set new precedents to what a woman could achieve professionally.
Since I’ve commented that I thought this was a YA book before I read it, I want to clarify that it reads more like a New Adult book. There isn’t a lot of smut but there is a bit more than kissing. On top of that, as I said before, some chapters followed adults (Lily’s parents and aunt), so I wouldn’t say it really fits in the YA category.
Overall, I’m honored to have read a masterpiece like Last Night at the Telegraph Club. The story touched me from the beginning, but I went from appreciating Lily to realizing there were so many things to love about this book there wasn’t anything I would have changed. Well, maybe I would have changed the fact that I’m now craving more historical fiction with sapphic romance (or a romance that reads like historical fiction) and they are so hard to find! If you have any recs, please let me know :)
Swimming in the Dark tells the story of Ludwik, a gay man living in 1980s Poland and who falls in love with a guy with opposite views on the politicalSwimming in the Dark tells the story of Ludwik, a gay man living in 1980s Poland and who falls in love with a guy with opposite views on the political conflict.
I have conflictive thoughts about this book because it’s been on my tbr for so long I had too many expectations. I was expecting a really hard to read but unforgettable romance between two gay men in love. What really happened: I was reading the book, thinking there was still half the story left, when I got to the final chapter and realized that was going to be it.
The bright side is that I learned a lot with this book. I’m ashamed to admit I had never read a book set in Poland in the 80s, so I had little knowledge of what had happened there at that time. I really appreciate the book for giving me a picture of the situation because I hate history but I actually love getting to know it by reading historical fiction, so I’ll make sure to read more books set in this period. I also liked the voice that told the story, it was actually really easy to read and quite poetic, a bit too flowery for me at times but easy to get through.
My body moved in your direction, and you looked at me, suddenly calmed too. With your arms outstretched to the side, you were like a ballet dancer hovering in flight. () I approached, until I could see the drops of water on your forehead and on the tip of your nose and in the corners of your mouth. We didn’t say a thing. We looked at each other, already beyond words. You were there, and I was there, close, breathing. And I moved into your circle. All the way to your waiting body and your calm, open face and the drops on your lips. Your arms closed around me. Hard. And then we were one single body floating in the lake, weightless, never touching the ground.
As for queer representation, I think I’ve read too many books about queer people going through similar things so it wasn’t something new for me. I’m not saying it wasn’t good, it just didn’t give me the emotional shock I was expecting.
My greatest terror was ending up alone. () I knew I wouldn’t be able to bear it. I decided never to () look at the boys in class the same way again, to reform myself. After that night, when I went home, and Granny ran toward me and asked where I had been and cried and smelled alcohol on my breath and slapped and hugged me, I decided I would not let the bad in me take over.
Overall, I liked the story even if it was too short for my taste. I would have loved to keep reading about Ludwik’s life, but I’m glad I decided to stop being afraid of it because it really wasn’t hard to read and I learned a lot from it. ...more
Sassy, fun and a complete delight to read, An Inconvenient Vow manages to have the vibes of the old classic romances without losing the modern writingSassy, fun and a complete delight to read, An Inconvenient Vow manages to have the vibes of the old classic romances without losing the modern writing.
“You accept then?” He asked gruffly. “My love?” When she opened her mouth, he threw up his hand. “Do not make your reply. I already know I will not like whatever words tremble on those lips.”
Jeffrey is the arrogant, handsome and straightforward heir of a Duke, but he is never too proud to apologize for his faults. He had vowed at eighteen not to bed any woman -kissing included-, which made him adorably innocent. Until he meets someone who will make him want to break all his vows.
“What is it?” Sabina asked with surprise. “You are undressing,” he said stiffly, hot color suffusing his face. Sabina's jaw almost dropped. “I have only removed my headdress.”
“I want to…”Jeffree’s words were gruff, his eyes studiously avoiding hers. “I want to touch your hair. Can I?”
Sabina is not afraid of saying exactly what she thinks. She is also not afraid of losing all her respectability in order to save her sister from a scandal. Only that she didn’t expect Jeffrey to be a gentleman and marry her to save them both.
“I am sure your family congratulated you on losing such a shrewish wife so quickly. That is quite a feat. It took my first husband a twelvemonth to do so.” Jeffree bristled. “I did not lose you. You ran off.”
If you love sassy dialogues between two soulmates that are too busy arguing to realize they are perfect for each other, look no further: Sabina and Jeffrey won’t disappoint. Sabina was so funny, Jeffrey so correct and blunt. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed banter so much.
“You pig!” Sabina fumed. “You know how I hate it when you call me madam!” Jeffree have a short laugh. “How fortunate that I do not mind your own dubious manner of addressing me.” “Loathsome wretch!” “Never at a loss of words, are you?” he murmured, and for one astonishing moment, she thought he was about to smile. “I did not know what my tastes ran to,” he said suddenly in a low, gravelly voice that robbed Sabina of all breath again. “Not until I met you.”
There is also groveling, because Sabina can’t believe Jeffrey has feelings for her and he would do whatever it takes to show her. I also found it endearing that he was angry at himself for not remembering the first time they met.
“You must have been unaccustomedly well-behaved that day,” he said sounding vaguely accusatory, “else I would have notice you, to be sure. () You are not a woman to be overlooked.”
The only thing I would change is that the first part was a bit slow, and there were some scenes with secondary characters that I didn’t find as enchanting. Maybe because I wanted to read their banter all day long.
“Did we meet?” Sabina asked. “We did, madam,” Hugo answered stiffly. “Don’t call her that,” Jeffree shot back. “Only I call her madam.” Hugo blinked. “Er… my lady.”
Overall, An Inconvenient Vow is a HR with marriage of convenience, perfect for lovers of banters, arrogant yet innocent heroes and blunt heroines.
“You have me. I am the only man you have need of.”
Disclaimer: Laura ❀, Ren ♡ (and everyone else who loved the book) please close your eyes and act like you haven't seen this. I don't know what went wrDisclaimer: Laura ❀, Ren ♡ (and everyone else who loved the book) please close your eyes and act like you haven't seen this. I don't know what went wrong with My Darling Book, it just didn’t work for me.
The story was romantic, and they were really beautiful moments, but I didn’t care about the characters and I struggled to keep reading from the beginning. I thought maybe it would be better when they finally meet, but it felt too unrealistic (or maybe I was just bored).
“I would lay the world at your feet if I could, Katherine.”
“I do not need the whole world. Just a little bit of you, Alexander.”
BUT the disability rep was really good, and it deserves 3 stars for that alone. I only wish I was able to connect with the characters, because it’s really hard to find books which this rep, specially with the degree of disability Alexander (H) had.
Also, I hope I’m not the only one who rolled her eyes in this scene (it was when they almost drown in the river)
“He’s dead?” ()
“I cannot hear his heartbeat or feel the heat of his breath. I fear he is truly dead.” (...)
“Surely it cannot be so. How dreadful!”
Her heart ached at the naked agony in Alexander’s gaze. “He was a wife.. children and grandchildren? Why did I risk going over the bridge? (...) God damn you,” the duke roared, slapping the man’s chest.
It was a sacrilege, beating a dead man’s chest, He repeated the motion, this time his sound of fury and denial muted. Just as she was about to order him to stop, one of the man’s fingers twitched. (...)
“I thought he moved.” Every foolish gothic book she’d ever read in the late evening blared through her mind. It did not help that the sky had the ominous darkness of a fiercely brewing storm. ()
The man jerked and then turned over to his side, coughing up mouthfuls of water. (...) “Ye had to thump so hard, Yer Grace?”
I wouldn’t like to be in the company of these two if I ever got hurt. They are hopeless: one was too busy blaming himself and the other was thinking about zombies....more
As the first book in the series, A Substitute Bride for the Prizefighter is a beautiful marriage of convenience Victorian romance. Writing in the sameAs the first book in the series, A Substitute Bride for the Prizefighter is a beautiful marriage of convenience Victorian romance. Writing in the same slow-paced style, this time we follow the love story between the proper, serious Lizzie and a handsome prizefighter called Benedict.
Lizzie saw something she shouldn’t have.
Now her family doesn’t want to believe her because it would be a scandal and demand her to apologize for the false accusations. By refusing to lie, Lizzie finds herself alone in the streets, with her little possessions in a carpet bag and no money. However, she will find help in the most unexpected person...
When Benedict sees how his fiancée’s family dispatches Lizzie for telling the unmistakable truth, he decides he’s done with hypocrisy and breaks the engagement. But Benedict still needs a wife and something tells him Lizzie might be the perfect one for him...
She raised a hand waveringly to her forehead and pressed it here. “I think I must be sleeping right now.”
“Is it such a dream of yours to receive an offer of marriage from me?”
Alice Coldbreath has made it again. I’m here reading about two people living their lives, just talking and working and going back home, with a smile on my face and unable to stop reading. The reason? I love Benedict and Lizzie independently as much as them together, and I didn't need anything more.
There is nothing you could say could turn me against her, so don’t ever try. I may as well tell you now that I’d believe her word over the evidence of my own eyes.
Straightforward, honest and loyal, Benedict has earned a place on my book-boyfriend shelf. Besides adoring and having eyes only for his wife, Benedict always takes notice of the smallest things and loves to show his affection through tiny daily gestures. He is also a possessive, jealous alpha -it’s the only kind of hero Alice Coldbreath writes- but he doesn’t want to control her, doesn’t tell her what she can or can’t do. There is a huge difference between being possessive and wanting to control her freedom, and that’s something a lot of authors tend to forget while writing an alpha hero.
Last but not least, he is perfect because he hates miscommunication. Every time he feels something is off between them, he always tells her to sit down with him to talk. THAT’S A MAN!!✨...more
Enjoyable and addictive, I read it on one sitting. The characters were okay, but I would have liked to care about them a bit more. Tbh, I didn't reallEnjoyable and addictive, I read it on one sitting. The characters were okay, but I would have liked to care about them a bit more. Tbh, I didn't really dislike anything, but I didn't love anything either, if that makes sense. However, I'm really picky with HR because most writing styles don't usually work for me.
"You cannot hear the u in buy. It is silent when you speak this word..." (...)
"The bloody letter doesn't make the bloody sound, and yet it is included anyway. It doesn't make any goddamn sense."
“Great danger is always associated with great power. The difference between the great and the mediocre is that the great are willing to take a risk“Great danger is always associated with great power. The difference between the great and the mediocre is that the great are willing to take a risk.”
An epic story about mortals searching for power and temperamental Gods. The fight of an adamant heroine determined to seal her own fate. Politics, war, faith.
The book starts when Rin, a fourteen years old orphan, decides nobody is going to rule her life. They want to marry her with an old man, a powerful man. Everyone laughs at her when she declares she is going to study for the Keju test, the exam only the most brilliant students in the Empire are able to pass.
Nobody helps her, nobody believes in her.
She is nothing.
But it doesn’t matter, because she doesn’t need anyone. Only her strong will, her hard work and her boldness. After all, there is nothing more dangerous than a heroine who would do anything, everything, to search her goal.
She scanned the lower half of the scroll, hardly daring to breath. Surely she hadn’t scored enough to make the top ten. She didn’t see Fang Runin anywhere.
Only when she looked at Tutor Feyrik and saw that he was crying did she realize what had happened.
Her name was at the very top of the scroll. She hadn’t placed in the top ten. She’d placed at the top of the entire village. The entire province.
She had bribed a teacher. She had stolen opium. She had burned herself, lied to her foster parents, abandoned her responsibilities at the store, and broken a marriage deal.
And she was going to Sinegard.
Rin is the most kickass, crazy determined heroines I’ve ever read. There is nothing able to stop her from pursuing what she wants. It doesn’t matter the pain, the consequences, the lost. There is no hesitation.
She is not a good heroine who wants to save the word. She craves power.
Everyone wants her to fall, but she is stronger than every one of them, and she will raise.
“Deal,” he said finally, and grasped for the opium.
She snatched it out of his reach. “Four conditions. One, you teach me. Two, you teach me for free. Three, you don’t smoke when you’re teaching me. And four, if you tell anyone where you got this, I’ll let your creditors know where to find you.”
The book is divided in three parts, every one of them darker, bolder.
The first part is the training in Sinegard. Because, if you thought getting in was the hard part, you were wrong.
“You all are here because you achieved the highest Keju scores in the country.(...) You have beaten thousands of other pupils for the honor of studying here. Congratulations.”
(...) A few tentative claps sounded across the room.
Jima smirked. “Next year a fifth of you will be gone.”
I know a lot of people don’t like the training part, but it’s my favourite. Reading about how well a character fights is great. But reading the process of learning who to reach that level, that’s what makes it special.
That’s what I’m here for.
[image] The second and third part of the book are not in Sinegard. The Third Poppy War has started, and they would have to do what they’ve been trained for: fighting, killing, dying.
“You’ve got to admire them,” said Rin. “Their city’s about to be invaded and their first thought is to defend it.”
“They are being stupid,” said Raban.(...) “This is not the time for heroism. This is war. If they stay, they’re dead.”
The magical theme starts to be the center of the story. The Gods want shamans to fight their battles, and the humans want the power they offer in exchange.
There is no good, no evil, no right or wrong. Whom to trust when anyone can betray anyone?
The reason this book is not a five star for me is because magic systems centered in Gods are my least favourite. I know, I’m weird. Also, History bores me to death (Sorry, I tried, but there is no Chemistry between History and I). However, it didn’t stop me from enjoying the book, and it definitely won’t stop me from picking up the next!
Overall, reading The Poppy War was like swimming with your eyes closed in an ocean filled with beasts. Your fate is hanging in your next movement, but you don’t know what way is the right one. The uncertainty is killing you, but you can stop reading swimming. Are the characters going toward the light? Or are they sealing the world's end?
That's what this book feels like, and I can’t wait to see Rin turning darker, wicked. If you are looking for a book with complex, grey characters, magic based on Gods, and a fictional war inspired by a real one,The Poppy War is your book.
I have become something wonderful, she thought. I have become something terrible.
Was she now a goddess or a monster?
Perhaps neither. Perhaps both.
Trigger warnings: sexual assault, rape, mass-murders, drug use… Basically, all you can think of when it comes to war....more
Yours Until Dawn is a beautifully-written historical romance, perfect for the most hopeless romantic souls. At first it seems the typical s*3.5 stars!
Yours Until Dawn is a beautifully-written historical romance, perfect for the most hopeless romantic souls. At first it seems the typical sweet cliché, but don’t let it misguide you: it has a twist in the end!
After losing his sight and his place as the golden boy of London’s high society, Gabriel is no longer the charming gentleman full of smiles. His family thinks he’s useless and his fiancée has left him. Isolated and bitter, with all his dreams turned into ashes, Gabriel no longer cares about anything, since he has lost everything. At least, that were his thoughts until Samantha Wickersham, his new nurse, appeared. Will she be able to make him understand there is something worth fighting for?
I enjoyed the first part of the story a lot: it was predictable, but sweet and romantic. The characters were really well-written and the writing style was gorgeous. I loved the way the author played with all the senses, making you feel the story:
Samantha wouldn’t have thought the tart, clean fragrance of lemon verbena she’d dabbed behind her ears would be all that enticing to a man. But the look on his face as he filled his lungs with her scent made her feel like some scantily clad harem girl awaiting the sultan’s pleasure. Her skin tingled with awareness. It was as if he were touching her everywhere at once without lifting a finger.
However, I have three small problems with the plot. One of them I saw coming because it is the typical cliché with this plot. Since I was aware of it, I didn’t care as much - even though I still rolled my eyes when it happened.
But the other two were the reason I lowered the rating. Since both are at the very end I can’t explain them, so for those who have read the book:
⛔SPOILER⛔ (GR app doesn't care about spoiler tags)
1. I don’t understand how Gabriel didn’t recognize Samantha’s voice. It was something I might have overlooked if he wasn’t blind, but blind people take more notice of their other senses than people who are not blind. For Gabriel, Samatha’s voice was like her face. You don’t forget the face of someone you love, and her voice was naked!!
2.He slept with her when he thought she was another woman. He was supposed to be madly in love with Samantha!!! WHAT THE HELL was he doing having sex with OW?? I get they were the same, but he didn’t know that. He thought she was other person and he still did that. I felt cheated.
The ending was bittersweet, especially because I can’t stand drama. I think I might have been happier with the cliché ending and without the twist, but I’m probably in the minority. Still, if you enjoy romantic stories with beautiful writing and don’t mind a bit of drama in the end, I recommend giving it a try.
“Have I ever told you how very much I admire you, Miss Wickersham?”
“I have no need or desire to be admired.”
“What about adored? Would you care to be adored? (...) What do you yearn for, Samantha? Isn’t there something you want so badly that it makes you ache?...more
Please don't kill me. I was really enjoying the story until they arrived in Scotland. I love sassy heroines, some scenes were hilarious andDNF at 70%
Please don't kill me. I was really enjoying the story until they arrived in Scotland. I love sassy heroines, some scenes were hilarious and they had great chemistry. But for every funny comment there were like two sexist ones, and I can't stand those. I know it's normal because it's a historical romance, but I don't like it. Also, the couple was obviously in love, and the drama was starting to be too much for me (I'm sorry, I like light romances), so I decided to stop reading, imagine a HEA and be done with it.
I'm angry at myself for not liking it, but this is the second Julie Garwood's book I've read and I didn't enjoy any of them. I think it's time to give up, acknowledge she is not for me and stop bullying her books. Now, I need to reread my queen Lisa Kleypas to remind myself I love this genre ...more
A Bride for the Prizefighter is a marriage-of-convenience Victorian romance between a prizefighter/publican and a teacher. I had never read a HR aboutA Bride for the Prizefighter is a marriage-of-convenience Victorian romance between a prizefighter/publican and a teacher. I had never read a HR about middle classes before, but I’m happy to say it was a pleasant experience, way more realistic and interesting than reading about balls and dukes.
Even though it’s really slow paced and most of the time it's about the heroine doing her daily chores, I found myself not wanting to stop reading. I don’t know how the author managed to do that, but I was totally caught in the story, probably because the writing and the heroine’s POV were relaxing and pleasant.
Mina (h) is a sensible, quiet and patient woman who doesn’t get angry easily, yet doesn't let anybody mess with her.
“No one know as well as I where my husband spent the night,” Mina said calmly, but with a hint of steel in her voice. “I beg you will not embarrass yourself any further in front of my guests.”
Nye is a quiet alpha hero, who doesn’t hesitate to protect his woman and emanates possessiveness. However, he was talkative, even a bit sweet-ish, when it was the time to be.
“Come and sit on my lap, Mina. I want my treasure in my hands”, he said warmly.
They suited each other perfectly, but Nye was too quiet for my taste. They had their first real conversation around 35% of the book, I had started to think they would have sex before talking… I know the heroine loved him that way, but I wanted to scream for the lack of dialogue.
My other tiny problem was the fact that the story was centered in the heroine, and I think the hero’s POV would have added a lot more to the story. Tbh, I didn’t mind as much because I was enjoying just reading about the heroine doing her chores -don’t judge me-, but the romance part would have been better that way.
This is my first book by the author, but it won't be my last -I'm currently reading the next on in the series. I prefer a story that makes you want to keep reading more than having a lot of things happening, so her style works for me.
A Bride for the Prize Fighter is perfect if you love grumpy, alpha heroes; sensitive heroines and don’t mind a simple plot and internal dialogue. It reminds me a bit of Mariana Zapata’s style, but a bit less slow burn and more full of scenes about the heroine’s life that I don’t think added anything to the romance. (Also, Nye reminds me of Aiden, from The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, but in a Victorian version...more
It was a joy to read this book. A quick, fun and sweet reading, exactly what I wanted. I didn´t really enjoy the other books I've read by this author,It was a joy to read this book. A quick, fun and sweet reading, exactly what I wanted. I didn´t really enjoy the other books I've read by this author, so Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake was a great surprise.
Callie has spent all her life following the rules. And for what? She's twenty eight years old, without any hope to get a husband and tired of playing the role of the plain, boring woman. So she makes a list with all the things she has always wanted to try, but were forbidden by the society. Starting with getting her first kiss with the only man she had ever dreamt of.
Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston, has a problem. He has to take care of a half sister, Juliana, he didn't even know he had. Ralston needs someone to teach her manners and introduce her into the London society. He can't believe his luck when Lady Calpurnia, a model of perfect behaviour, comes to his house in the middle of the night looking for a kiss…
Callie and Gabriel make such a wonderful couple! I had so much fun seeing Callie doing things like going to a club or fencing, and Gabriel trying to protect her reputation. This book was ridiculous, but I couldn't stop smiling! I was angry with Ralston for saying things he didn't mean that made Callie doubt herself. He clearly didn´t make it on purpose, but I totally understand why Callie couldn´t believe him. I usually like self confident heroines, but Callie was such an amazing character. She was caring, sweet and witty. It's great reading a book in first person when you love the character's POV.
“Friendship!” Oxford sneered, sending a bolt of fear through Callie at the harsh change in his tone. “You think I´m looking for friendship? On the contrary, I´m looking for a wife.” He spat the words at her as though she were addlepated.
“Then it appears you have been labouring under a misapprehension that I am seeking a husband”.
Juliana, Ralston´s half sister, deserves a special mention. The Italian woman has a really strong character, no patience or filters, and the arguments she had with Ralston were priceless. I´m looking forward to reading her story!
“Jenkins, please escort Miss Juliana upstairs to have someone assist her maid in unpacking her things.” He turned back to Juliana. “You do have a maid, do you not?”
“Yes,” she said, amusement crossing her lips. “Must I remind you that it was the Romans who brought civilization to your country?”
Ralston´s eyebrows rose. “You plan to be a challenge, do you?”
Juliana smiled angelically. “I agreed to remain, my lord. Not to remain silent”.
If you enjoy fun historical romances, with a witty heroine, a good rake and a lot of fun, I truly recommend to try this one. ...more
The Kite Runner is a story about friendship, racism, war and forgiveness. A story about two boys in a world full of difficulties. You are not going toThe Kite Runner is a story about friendship, racism, war and forgiveness. A story about two boys in a world full of difficulties. You are not going to be the same after reading it.
This is the reason I join bookclubs. They make me read books out of my comfort zone that I wouldn´t have read otherwise. And I LOVED this one so much. I don´t know what to say. It was so beautiful and hard at the same time, so real and painful. Every time I could start to see the light and the end of the tunnel, the happily ever after I wanted, something terrible happened.(view spoiler)[ WHY Hassan has to die? Why did he have to comfront the Taliban? He could have left the house, stay with his child and wife, right? (hide spoiler)]...more
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