The Gist: Explore my End of Year Book Tag, diving into unread gems on my shelves, and my 2024 TBR priorities!
(more…)My September TBR: Embracing an Ambitious Reading Challenge to Meet My 2024 Reading Goals
The Gist: Join me this September as I dive into an ambitious reading challenge to hit my 2024 goals. From backlist treasures to new releases, discover how I’m combining my fall reads with my reading goals!
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(more…)My July TBR: Discover Strong Characters and New Releases
The Gist: Discover my top book picks for July, including the thrilling fantasy The Hunger of the Gods and the captivating historical novel Great Circle, and get inspired for your summer reading!
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(more…)The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag: 2024
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: The Women by Kristin Hannah
The Gist: The Women is a powerful novel about the erasure and resilience of women during the Vietnam War through the lens of friendship, societal challenges, and the lasting impacts of conflict.
Series: Standalone
Release Date: February 6, 2024
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over- whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.
But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.
The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.
• Black side characters
• Medical trauma (e.g., amputation, surgery, gunshot wounds)
• Children and pregnant women are described as victims of the war in Vietnam
• Gore
• Miscarriage
• Alcoholism
• Drug addiction
• Depression
• Suicidal ideation
• Suicide attempt
• PTSD
• War themes
• Death of supporting characters
• Grief
• Racism
• Police brutality discussed
• Sexism
• Infidelity
• Swearing
• Alcohol and drug consumption and abuse
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 5-stars
(more…)Book Review: Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
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
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.
• 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
• 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
Quick Take: Dive into my Goodreads Book Tag for a curated journey through my recent reads, reflections, and exciting TBR picks!
(more…)The End of Year Book Tag: 2023
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…)9 Books on My November TBR
About: Explore my November TBR with nine anticipated reads, including Cassandra Clare’s adult fantasy debut and two holiday romances!
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(more…)Book Review: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
The Gist: Starling House artfully employs dark academia and an enigmatic haunted house to delve into the racism, sexism and classism that plague a small town.
Series: Standalone
Release Date: October 3, 2023
Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland–and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.
Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.
As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.
If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.
• Mexican Biracial Supporting Character
• Lesbian supporting characters
• Sapphic side relationship
• PTSD from near-death experience
• Sword violence
• Homelessness
• Incest recounted (by a side character)
• Racism
• Homophobia
• No OM/OW drama
• Does have the Hero pushing the Heroine away
• Does have a brief separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4.25-stars
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