book review: the house in the cerulean sea

visibility | The three main adults in the novel, including the protagonist, are either gay or queer. Gender is mildly played with as for example one of the girl characters has a beard.

reader health | List of elements the author discusses well: body image, fat positivity, trauma responses, child abuse, systemic isms, ignorance and prejudice, adolescent masturbation, social change.

education | It has a well known moral about “not judging books by covers”.

characters | To say the kids in this book were lovable would be putting it almost offensively and not just lightly. They are bright beautiful little stars and do a great job of warming our hearts. I loved everyone single primary character.

writing style, plot, & entertainment/pleasure | I struggled very much with getting into it, for about the first 3 chapters, because there wasn’t a sense of where the story was taking us. This changed, thank goodness, in chapter 4. The narrative voice is mildly sarcastic, akin to comedy like The Hitchhiker’s Guide, which is a parody-adjacent voice I very much enjoy. After chapter 4, I was completely pulled in and could not put it down. It is truly worth the hype and I’m glad I listened to everyone who recommended it to me.

etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; add to tbr?

book review: written in the stars

representation & visibility | The protagonists are a bisexual woman and a gay woman. An important secondary character, who is the protagonist of the next book in the companion series, is pansexual. One of the protagonists’ brothers is gay and has a furbaby and a husband. My review is #ownvoices.

reader health | The author is able to write conflicts which are both believable and healthy, which impressed me throughout the novel. There wasn’t anything harmful I noticed in any of the narrative.

education | Astrology is treated with the utmost respect.

writing style | It’s a solid novel, written in an accessible way which keeps the reader’s attention and keeps the reader focused easily on the story.

plot & characters | The characterization is, again, believable and impressive. Darcy’s childhood and last relationship haunt her and she makes decisions inspired by those events, but also based on her values as a person. Elle turns out to be much more than the reader bargained for, uncoiling herself for us slowly and smoothly. My favorite contemporary elements of family, friendships, interests, etc. are all included. The retelling elements from Pride and Prejudice make for such a close retelling while also being a completely different story. It was truly worth the read.

entertainment/pleasure | I loved every moment of it and appreciate exactly how long it was and how many things happened.

etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; add to tbr?