Take a photo of a barcode or cover
sarah_thebooknerd's Reviews (879)
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I am really glad I was able to buddy read this book with Marisol. This book has 3 POVs and it takes a minute to figure out which character we are in (there are no headings). Once you get used to the very distinct voices it makes it so much easier.
1. Little Wolf, an Indigenous woman in the late 1870s joins a band of warriors who are fighting up against the colonization and oppression.
2. Nancy, an Indigenous woman in the 1970s who works in academia, is a mom and deals with the systemic oppression that has been handed down to her for decades.
3. General, he is one of the leaders working to conquer the Indigenous peoples and force them into reservations or death.
There is so much to this book and it shows just how brutal colonization is/was and how even in the future it leads to continued violence and oppression. I had so many emotions while reading this book. I was angry, sad, frustrated, and I cried. It is one of those books that will move you in many ways and remind you just how much we truly have never been taught about the ways in which we (yt people) harmed and continue to harm Indigenous peoples globally.
1. Little Wolf, an Indigenous woman in the late 1870s joins a band of warriors who are fighting up against the colonization and oppression.
2. Nancy, an Indigenous woman in the 1970s who works in academia, is a mom and deals with the systemic oppression that has been handed down to her for decades.
3. General, he is one of the leaders working to conquer the Indigenous peoples and force them into reservations or death.
There is so much to this book and it shows just how brutal colonization is/was and how even in the future it leads to continued violence and oppression. I had so many emotions while reading this book. I was angry, sad, frustrated, and I cried. It is one of those books that will move you in many ways and remind you just how much we truly have never been taught about the ways in which we (yt people) harmed and continue to harm Indigenous peoples globally.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
This memoir is so heartbreaking and gripping. It gets into Brandi’s past of growing up in the foster care system, abuse she endured and how the trauma impacted her. We see her claw her way out of the family cycle of children growing up in the system, abuse, drugs/alcohol, and the impact those traumas have on her psychologically and spiritually. Brandi deals with institutionalization for her mental health. As she is dealing with all of this we also see her successes, becoming a journalist, getting her first journalist jobs, raising her children, connecting with her Indigenous culture, and finding her voice. This memoir highlights the importance of land back, MMIW crisis, and the acknowledgment of how colonization has impacted Indigenous communities for generations.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Abandonment
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
I read this poetry collection on Everand.
The poems have a theme of motherhood,
love, loss, grief, war and checkpoints.
Every time I pick up a Palestinian poetry
collection it is very clear that art is a form
of resistance and a form of coping.
Some of the poems are very moving and
others I struggled with but I am curious
how much is lost within the translation
itself. Emotion is so much of poetry but
words in some languages do not always
translate well and so I think part of it is that. The poem- “Mahmoud” is one that
I think everyone should read. As a mom
I felt that one to my core and cried.
emotional
sad
fast-paced
This poetry collection was written after the start of the bombardment on Gaza and is emotional, raw and gripping. It goes over what it is like to watch a genocide of your people unfold while you are living in the diaspora. It also gets at the anger of having your gender and sexual identity be used as a way to justify it. I did not want to put it down and found myself reading some of the poems over and saving a few of them to revisit again and again.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I love a good fake dating romance book. Luna is down on her luck after being fired from her job and she runs into Jean-Pierre looking for someone to hop on a video call with his grandfather and Luna agrees when he offers some cash. These two end up in a longer fake dating situation to appease Jean-Pierre’s chef dynasty family and the inevitable forced proximity moments begin. They both come from very different worlds; Luna comes from a single mom and understands struggle and hardship as she worked up to get the $ for surgery. Jean-Pierre, is French, wealthy and had a very easy transition financially but not really the support from his family. Because of the differences with them, they struggle to see each other’s point of view and the banter is funny but at times it bordered on passive aggressive and they had to work through it and I am glad that TJ Alexander shows them doing that. I definitely recommend this series!
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Aimée, is in middle school and on a field trip gets lost and stumbles upon an Alice in Wonderland inspired world that is mashed up with Indigenous Anishinaabe culture and storytelling. Aimée has to come to terms with who they are, the world around them and work with their Indigenous roots to try to overcome the lies, scheming and theft of the Queen of Hearts who is inspired by white colonialism. The graphics are awesome and I would love an entire series about Aimée because they are awesome and seeing them connect with themselves was great an I could totally see a series. Please, Please, Please Manifesting this !!
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I LOVED THIS ONE!!! This follows Lily’s sister, Violet who is a celebrity stylist. She is workaholic, always on the go and while on a trip in Vegas she runs into her high school ex- boyfriend, Xavier. Xavier, is a high school teacher and basketball coach and he has dreams of moving up to college coaching.
These two wake up the next day realize they got married, but don’t worry it was just a pretend marriage. While giving an interview, Violent alludes to being married and they dig up that it is to Xavier and bam, these two end up in a fake marriage to help Xavier get the basketball game of his dreams and allow Violet to save face.
I love second chance romance when it is done right and this was DONE RIGHT! I loved seeing these two talk and figure out how to have their careers and relationship and make room for that relationship
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Thank you to Penguin Random House Audio for a free copy to read.
Lily submits an email to an author she loves website and she is shocked when he responds. The two of them begin this pen pal friendship and flirting and right before they are set to meet one another he ghosts her. Fast forward a few months, and Lily gets a new neighbor, Nick. While Nick talks with Lily he realizes that she is the pen pal he was writing with and he needs to keep that from her. He also wants to help her find a date to a wedding to make up for it. While they are working together to find a date, the two become friends and a relationship blooms.
I struggled with this book and I was shocked because I have seen these tropes before and I could not figure out why I was getting so triggered. But, I figured it out! My daughter’s name is Lilly and I really felt protective of Lily in the book as a result. I wanted to protect her and I just wanted Nick to go to therapy to be good for her. So yeah, names can totally mess with your head when they are your kids names. But I loved Kristina’s writing and went to book 2 right away!