1-star • Before doing research, I found the book empowering. However, it's evident the novel is a copy of The Slumflower's debut novel.
Note: This novel is very similar to What a Time to Be Alone: The Slumflower's Guide to Why You Are Already Enough by The Slumflower (Chidera Eggerue) which was published in 2018. Women Don't Owe You Pretty was published in 2020. If Given's book looks like something you want to read, I highly recommend reading What a Time to Be Alone first.
A dystopian novel that makes overt naturalized misogyny that explores how women support and dissent from the patriarchy.
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird blew away my expectations. It was blunt in its grief, decisive in its healing and subtle in its love. For a book that was so sad and emotional, I finished the story with a smile on my face and one thought: I NEED MORE.
A powerful tale of lost friendship and self-discovery as Cleo navigates losing her best friend and her parents’ separation.
The character-driven novel explores humanity through its fictional sleeping virus, which was disconcerting to read during COVID-19.
An aggravating rom-com whose grump hero edges into asshole territory but was such fun because of its amazing Heroine.
A fantastical novel, driven by a chosen-one oriented plot that falls a bit short due to its trope-laden characterizations.
A fresh, feminist take on a Beauty and the Beast retelling; the compelling characterizations made the book such a page-turner.
The last time I read Twilight I was 12 years old and loved it. Now, currently in the midst of finishing my feminism dissertation on patriarchal norms in popular culture, and currently self-isolating, my curiosity was peaked: is the Twilight I remember one that was read through naive rose-tinted glasses? Does it actually have an anti-feminist rhetoric? Over the past two days, I have read Twilight (note only the first book in the series) and have taken notes of my thoughts while reading.
The premise was tantalizing, a dark YA, high fantasy, an anti-heroine with powerful abilities, yet I wasn't emotionally invested.
