Elliot

I'm a trans guy, and culture is one of the most important things to me. When the Moon Was Ours - a book that shares the magic in culture and the trans experience - captured my heart. The writing style felt like hope, like maybe love is possible and good things can stay pure. I read the book in about four hours, it spoke to me that much. The ending is more abrupt than I would've liked and didn't feel very flushed out, which is why I'd say my rating is more like 4.75/5, but despite that I think it's a book tied directly to my soul and I'll be forever grateful it was written.

A quick and easy read. The chapters were split into subchapters, which I thought was pretty cool. The worldbuilding was enough to draw you in but still left a lot unsaid, and I do wish we knew more about everything since the premise is so interesting. Some aspects of the magic and fighting were a bit repetitive, and I wish there was more detail in that regard. It made the story feel a bit too simple at times, like issues were over before they could really be a problem. It also made the characters feel a bit flat, and I'd have liked to feel more emotion rather than the author directly explaining everything. Overall though, I enjoyed this read and will likely reread again in the future. Excited to start the next book!

Elatsoe is the story of a Lipan Apache girl who has had the multi-generational gift of raising the dead passed down to her. She's solving the mystery of her cousin's murder after he appeared to her in a dream. I think this was a great mystery - not drawn out, overly-cheesy, or predictable. What I most liked about the story was seeing the intersection of Native myths with other mythical creatures, like vampires and faeries. I loved that the family regularly talks about culture and is continuously explaining the importance of things to their daughter and to other non-Native friends and family. It feels warm and familiar because my family talks about culture and shares and explains in the same way.

I will note that this reads as more middle-grade than YA, but I still enjoyed it a lot as a light read and would definitely recommend Elatsoe. Hoping to read other books by Darcie Little Badger in the future!

Wilde's writing is beautiful and turns an offhand "if-only" into a story on the meaning of life and morality. The exposition is quite long as it takes half the book for the focus on the portrait to begin, and then chapter 11 definitely felt too long. If you're not fond of sociophilosophical conversation and introspective dialogue you might find the first half dry (maybe read the uncensored version instead since it's shorter? I am saying this prior to reading it though) but aside from that the second half suddenly becomes a page-turner. I recommend skipping Chapter 11 because it's far longer and more detailed than it needs to be. Overall though I enjoyed The Picture of Dorian Gray and have now ordered the uncensored version! It's definitely an insightful read into late nineteenth century England and - because this was my question prior to reading it - it's super gay as far as the 1800s go. Yay for historical gays :))

One Day is a light-hearted, slow-burn romance. I've personally never read a romance book before so I do recommend this as a starter since it's not over-done.

You truly grow to feel like the two main characters are friends of your own. The book is snapshots of their lives broken up into portions (early 20s, mid 20s, late 20s, so on). I honestly love the way it's structured as it feels like you're growing up alongside the characters. The further you read the more you realize you need to show more compassion for yourself - that despite mistakes everything will all work out in the end. It makes you feel less alone because even when the characters felt alone, we know they never truly were. As someone in my 20s it made me feel less lost because you grow to learn that at any age we're still learning and figuring things out. I enjoy how One Day provokes reflection and introspection: I found myself thinking about chapters of my life and wondering how little decisions affected me greatly, as they do with the characters. Overall it's a fun, comforting read that I'd say is like a coming-of-age story (because you never really stop coming of age, do you?).

The book is one of those stories with limited characters and settings that takes place over a short amount of time. I have a lot of respect for stories of that nature, but they're hard to pull off. I think if the story were written by someone else I'd have liked it more. There were too many unnecessary and unrelated references to sex and the writing style felt clunky. Stylistically I think I'd have enjoyed it more as a play (in an Arthur Miller way). I do want to say that I loved his vocab even if I didn't quite like his voice, it just feels reminiscent of 20th century writing. Overall the concept was good but needed to be executed better. I feel like if we got to the end of the hour, or even a scene with all the characters in one room, that would have really driven the story home. I'd say it was a page-turner but I wasn't really invested (but maybe I'm biased because the sex references were SO random it was just gross and offputting and my rating would've been a 3 otherwise). If I end up watching the Netflix movie I'll update my review and see if I like the story better as a movie.