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sarah_thebooknerd's Reviews (879)
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
There is something so intoxicating about Louise Erdrich's writing in this book that fuses Indigenous folklore, some ghost story aspects that are not too dark, the independent book store vibes and the real life Covid Pandemic and Black Lives Matter Protests after the murder of George Floyd into one book and I honestly was in shock when I reached the end. It sucked me in for sure. I will say the pandemic aspects and Black Lives Matter protests were hard to re-visit and realize just how much we still are not changing. I read this the same week that Sonya Massey's murder at the hands of police hit and this book hits with a fierce punch. I think because those two events were in my lifetime and so recently I did find it hard to stay in the book and not go back into my headspace and feelings about that time period. It is also hard to read about the pandemic when we are still in it. Covid is still disabling people daily and we are not doing anything to mitigate the harm on a large scale.
Tookie the FMC is an incredible one and shows the range of being a human- the flaws and all and I will say that she will keep pulling you back in.
Tookie the FMC is an incredible one and shows the range of being a human- the flaws and all and I will say that she will keep pulling you back in.
challenging
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I have to admit I am a sucker for heist books. There is something about them that always is appealing. The high end tech, the intrigue, the tension between the love interests,usually the amazing outfits and high stakes of the moments.
Magnus and Celeste were on the same heist team. They had the same mentor, Doris who is now deceased and her dying wish is for them to come back together as a team to pull off one more heist. Making the job that went sideways, have resolution. Celeste is a risk taker and Magnus lost his entire family so he didn’t want to lose Celeste. When he realizes that she is not willing to put that part to the side and recognize the recklessness of her risk taking he walks away. Celeste grew up in the system and blossomed with mentorship from Doris and she likes the thrill, the chase and yet we see her vulnerability in the book when others outside of Magnus recognize that risk taking and how much it will isolate her from people that love her.
I loved the heist aspects and how fast paced that part was and I enjoyed each of them individually a lot. I think what I wanted to see a bit more of was them as a couple the emotional connection there outside of sex. There are not any flashbacks to them as a couple in the past so you have to rely solely on their memories discussed or conversations had now and I think that if that had been more present I would have loved this book even more. That being said, it is a fun and quick read and if you like sexy heists I think you will enjoy this one.
CW: Sexual content, Sexism, Grief, Cancer, Death (off page)
Racism, Gun violence, Blood
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was so happy to go back into this realm with the characters and getting to see the glimpses of some of my babies. (Gabe & Lina from book 1)
I also do not say this a lot when it comes to my platform but this was a brother’s best friend that worked for me and didn’t give me the ick!
I really love Vi and Jake separating so seeing them get their happily ever after also just made me so happy. Vi is a fat Chilean woman in a position of power and I am loving seeing the women in power not abuse their positions of power and engage ethically. The last couple of reads I have had with this dynamic showed this and just- YES! More of this please!! I also love that Jake is also a fat man and Leonor writes very fat positive, body neutral rep. One aspect of the fat rep that made me so happy was seeing their movement together through working out. As someone who found movement work to be an aspect of my fat liberation journey later in life and finding that joy with reconnecting with my body, I just love seeing it in books and it is not often written into books with fat characters.
I appreciate the way in which Leonor will showcase characters with trauma history but not put the trauma on page. We know that Jake has gone through something in his life but we don’t have to know all the details to know that he has been in therapy for years and working on coping and managing his trauma.
I also really loved seeing the humor and love of Vi’s romance reading brought into the storyline. I just loved these moments and loved Jake for being the awesome man he is and helping Vi with her joy of reading.
Yeah I cannot handle the deceit happening and especially as they are about to engage in sexual content and he doesn’t know who she truly is. I’m good and calling it quits.
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Kate describing this as Wedding Crashers' meets Grey's is honestly really spot on. I loved that Whit and her friend were the one crashing weddings and they are successful surgeons. I also really enjoyed that they know what they want and are both a little anti-commitment.
Henry going back to medical school later in life and not being the one in power, l am not going to lie I did enjoy that aspect. It is nice to see that flip in books. I love how Kate had the FMC have to be the one to deal with the ethics of being a superior to the MMC and also how she was trying to change the resident program from the "good boys" club rules and put in ethics and balance for the residents and she herself needed to model that and how having a relationship with Henry would put that into question. I loved how we see these two stay within the ethics and it also increased the tension.
Whit is the older sister to a younger sister who has a chronic illness and her sister kind of bounces between places, friends and has a lot of the freedom that Whit sometimes wishes she herself could have. But at the same time we also see the sisters wrestle with the need to have each other but also be their own people and respect the boundaries they need. I found that to be so relatable as a sister. You want to have those relationships and ties together but sometimes due to shared collective trauma it has impacted you all so differently and also changes the dynamics of the sibling relationship that it can be hard to navigate and keep those relationships.
I loved the way that Whit needed to let go of control and Henry wanted to take some of the burden and shoulder it with her. Henry wanted someone to lean on him and Whit would fight that desire and it made for a really gripping story.
There is humor, swoony moments, I loved knowing the FMC's pant size it made it so easy to understand body type and I really enjoyed getting to hang with Whit and Henry.
Henry going back to medical school later in life and not being the one in power, l am not going to lie I did enjoy that aspect. It is nice to see that flip in books. I love how Kate had the FMC have to be the one to deal with the ethics of being a superior to the MMC and also how she was trying to change the resident program from the "good boys" club rules and put in ethics and balance for the residents and she herself needed to model that and how having a relationship with Henry would put that into question. I loved how we see these two stay within the ethics and it also increased the tension.
Whit is the older sister to a younger sister who has a chronic illness and her sister kind of bounces between places, friends and has a lot of the freedom that Whit sometimes wishes she herself could have. But at the same time we also see the sisters wrestle with the need to have each other but also be their own people and respect the boundaries they need. I found that to be so relatable as a sister. You want to have those relationships and ties together but sometimes due to shared collective trauma it has impacted you all so differently and also changes the dynamics of the sibling relationship that it can be hard to navigate and keep those relationships.
I loved the way that Whit needed to let go of control and Henry wanted to take some of the burden and shoulder it with her. Henry wanted someone to lean on him and Whit would fight that desire and it made for a really gripping story.
There is humor, swoony moments, I loved knowing the FMC's pant size it made it so easy to understand body type and I really enjoyed getting to hang with Whit and Henry.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I sat with my feelings on this one for awhile because I misheard a part in the book and I’ve never been happier that I messed up because I loved this book and that part really made it hard to rave about it or talk about it.
This is a celebration of queer love, trans love and joy, coming out and an ode to baseball and the way it can connect to the experiences of queer people.
The ADHD and anxiety/ panic attack aspects also made me feel connected in various ways to the MCs even more and I definitely think this is a book you should pick up!
This is a celebration of queer love, trans love and joy, coming out and an ode to baseball and the way it can connect to the experiences of queer people.
The ADHD and anxiety/ panic attack aspects also made me feel connected in various ways to the MCs even more and I definitely think this is a book you should pick up!
I cannot be in the headspace with the triggers I have for this book. I thought it would be moving in a different direction but it’s moving more towards having my trigger getting more and more activated and I need to protect myself right now.
I know this one is going in the direction of brothers best friend that gets on my nerves. Love the characters and story outside of the misogyny: infantilizing sibling thing that sometimes happens in brother best friend trope so going to stop now.
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes