Overview: Reflecting on my 2024 reads with the End of Year book survey! From favourites to surprises, see how my reading year shaped up. Discover the books that stood out—and the ones that fell flat.
(more…)End of Year Book Survey: 2024
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The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag: 2024
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Quick Take: Explore my 2024 Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag, where I share my reading highs, lows, surprises, and progress on various book challenges, including favourite reads, anticipated releases, and goals for the year.
(more…)Book Review: Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
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The Gist: Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter is a poignant and darkly satirical exploration of classism, mental health, and the dystopian nature of modern work culture.
Series: Standalone
Release Date: July 11, 2023
Synopsis
A year into her dream job at a cutthroat Silicon Valley startup, Cassie finds herself trapped in a corporate nightmare. In addition to the long hours, toxic bosses, and unethical projects, she struggles to reconcile the glittering promise of a city where obscene wealth lives alongside abject poverty. Ivy League grads complain about the snack selection from a conference room with a view of unhoused people bathing in the bay. Startup burnouts leap into the paths of commuter trains, and men set themselves on fire in the streets.
Though isolated, Cassie is never alone. From her earliest memory, a miniature black hole has been her constant companion. It feeds on her depression and anxiety, its size changing in relation to her distress. The black hole watches, but it also waits. Its relentless pull draws Cassie ever-closer as the world around her unravels.
When her CEO’s demands cross an illegal threshold and she ends up unexpectedly pregnant, Cassie must decide whether the tempting fruits of Silicon Valley are really worth it. Sharp but vulnerable, funny yet unsettling, Ripe portrays one millennial woman’s journey through a late-capitalist hellscape and offers an incisive look at the absurdities of modern life.
Ending
Reflective. Open-ended. It could be construed as suicide or that she finally confronted her depression and was ready to find a fulfilling life by treating her depression.
Representation
• Main character with depression
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Classism
• Depression
• Recounting of child abuse (including flashbacks)
• Intrusive thoughts
• Suicidal ideation
• Surgical abortion
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Drug and alcohol consumption after pregnancy is confirmed
• Toxic parental relationships
• Toxic and abusive workplace
• Panic attacks
• Sexism
• Depression
• Recounting of child abuse (including flashbacks)
• Intrusive thoughts
• Suicidal ideation
• Surgical abortion
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Drug and alcohol consumption after pregnancy is confirmed
• Toxic parental relationships
• Toxic and abusive workplace
• Panic attacks
• Sexism
Mature Themes
• Drug consumption and abuse
• Alcohol consumption and abuse
• Explicit sexual content
• Swearing
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
• Alcohol consumption and abuse
• Explicit sexual content
• Swearing
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 5-stars
(more…)Goodreads Book Tag: New Reads and Exciting TBR Picks
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Quick Take: Dive into my Goodreads Book Tag for a curated journey through my recent reads, reflections, and exciting TBR picks!
(more…)My Exciting June TBR: Epic Fantasy, the Best Nonfiction, and New Releases
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About: Explore my June TBR with a diverse selection of anticipated reads, including epic fantasies, compelling nonfiction, intriguing new releases, and feminist retellings like Kaikeyi and Babylonia!
(more…)The End of Year Book Tag: 2023
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Quick Take: Explore my End of Year Book Tag, diving into unread gems on my shelves, and my 2023 TBR priorities, including a book I’ve owned for ten years!
(more…)August Wrap Up: 25 Books Read
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About: Explore my August Wrap Up featuring 25 books with a 4.03-star average rating. Discover a long-awaited romance favourite and my mystery/thriller journey!
(more…)18 Books on My May TBR
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About: My May TBR includes 18 books that I want to read in May, including four books by AAPI authors to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month!
(more…)14 New Books: My Hiemal Book Haul
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14 new books make up my Hiemal Book Haul and includes books I’ve purchased from August to November. The most prevalent themes are fantasy and (as always) romance.
(more…)Impactful and Reflective: The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
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Series: Standalone
Release Date: October 8, 2019
<strong>Synopsis</strong>
No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.
In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.
Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.
With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.
<strong>Ending</strong>
Bittersweet
<strong>Representation</strong>
• Lesbian supporting character
• LGBTQIA+ side character
• LGBTQIA+ side character
<strong>Possible Triggers:</strong> Yes
• Murder
• Death
• Cannibalism
• Rape
• Sexual assault
• Death
• Cannibalism
• Rape
• Sexual assault
<strong>Mature Themes</strong>
• Allusions to sex
• Slut-shaming
• Teen pregnancy
• Girl-hating
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
• Slut-shaming
• Teen pregnancy
• Girl-hating
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5 stars
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