How I read this: Free audiobook copy received through Libro.fm
This book is written just as well as all the others in the series, and certainly has allHow I read this: Free audiobook copy received through Libro.fm
This book is written just as well as all the others in the series, and certainly has all the same charm and wit. I also loved learning the stories of all three sisters, so I'm definitely glad I finished the series as a whole. But unfortunately for me, I never did well with enemies to lovers as a trope, and double unfortunately, I disliked BOTH the main characters from the very start. And it's so odd, because I feel like the characters were almost completely different people at the start of the book, as opposed to like 50% in? They were both so abrasive to begin with, one was flat out mean, and the other was genuinely wishy-washy and untrustable at first. Knowing this author, I knew it would evolve into nice backstories as to why they are both like that, but nonetheless, they kept bickering and I am just stressed out when even reading about such interactions. And about halfway through, the characters seemed to start acting completely differently and were now suddenly cool and likeable, and I just... I was confused. It's like they're not the same people I started reading the book about...
Anyway, I couldn't get it round my head how people who both seem to despise each other so much and treat one another like total crap, could actually end up together. I never really ship such couples in books and other media, cause it either looks contrived, or I just wonder if that's a healthy couple, or will they actually tear each other's hearts out once the honeymoon phase ends (you have to admit, that is a valid worry and it happens to very, very many couples in reality. I came from a home with an abusive father in early childhood and of course I just can't stomach such love stories, cause I worry for the woman.) So due to all this, I didn't find the love story itself very fascinating in this one. Strangely enough, about the point that they "changed characters", their love story became nice and sweet too. So it's like it's two books in one and they don't come together into one for me, the jump was just too inorganic. It also seemed more physical than the other books in the series (yes, all the books had the physical element, but this one just felt like.. maybe there was more of it?) Perhaps that also made the love story feel a bit shallow - it happened so soon (like two weeks?), it was mostly physical and they were borderline abusive to each other at the start. In my book... That's cause to worry, not to swoon. So I wasn't sold on the love so much. But I think it's just that this trope is not for me, and that's that. If you enjoy this trope, you might feel very differently about the story. It certainly has the same vibe as the other books in this series.
But what I really liked about the book was how diversely it portrayed autism - as a spectrum, just like it is. A lot of books only graze the surface, and so we mostly know autistic characters only through the stereotypes that the media uses for them. (That, and they're mostly men...) But in this book, we had the more typical autistic male character, plus a very different possibly-autistic female character, a depiction of autism that is rarely ever seen in the media because in women, it often manifests very differently, as our social roles and things asked of us as we're growing up can be very different. So essentially, this book displayed two very different sides of the same coin (not that there are only two, but you know what I mean.) I have heard about this one-sided depiction in media and the damage it does from many of my autistic friends, so it was really cool to see something different in this book. And I also liked that the book addressed the fact that maybe not everyone wants or needs an official diagnosis, but knowing that you're different may validate the feelings and wonderings you've had about yourself your whole life. Of course, only an autistic person can judge on the rep, so I'll be curious to read some ownvoices reviews for this book.
I thank the publisher and libro.fm for giving me a free copy of the audiobook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley
2.5 stars, rounded up to 3
It's very hard to review this book, because while I was very happHow I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley
2.5 stars, rounded up to 3
It's very hard to review this book, because while I was very happy to learn about DLD and I also recognize the intent of the author to make this disability more widely known by writing the book, at the same time it's also just... So, so badly edited.
And I'm not going to say badly written - the author is disabled in terms of speech and language, thought formation into words. It is a stunning job he did to even write the book. But should that mean that my standards for book reviews should drop? Not at all. Because books are made by teams of people. And I don't know whether the publishing of this book even HAD an editor, and if it did - well, now. I don't know what to say to you, Sir/Madam. You must've had your reasons.
Let me explain:
- up to page 65, roughly, the author talks about DLD as a disability, his childhood with it and while it has personal facts, it is mostly related to the disability and it was very interesting to read
- after page 151 the author talks about Afasic, the charity that helps people with DLD and the work he now does with them. Great topic. Interesting to learn. (Keep in mind that the references start at page 174, so it's a fairly short bit about Afasic.)
- however... Pages 66-150 (out of 184 in my edition) are just a lot of facts, in the vibe of "I took a class... I moved... I worked in a swimming pool... I took a class... I moved..." If I had to review the book minus the pages 65-151, it would be at least 4 stars, if not more. That is a lot of pages of something I can only call essentially a fact-by-fact resume.
It's hard to describe the infodumping, but had I bought this book and it wasn't a review copy, I would have definitely DNFed it. I made myself finish it to give a review. But I had to actively push myself through the middle bit and it was pretty hard going. I'm interested in your disability and how it has impacted your life, how you have persevered and grown in spite of it. I'm all for that! I am, however, incredibly uninterested in the types of cake you were choosing from for your wedding and which types you ended not buying, the myriad of classes with lists of their certifications you took (we are talking actual lists of CompTIA classes with their requirements and credits almost - IN BULLETS, to CISCO certifications and encyclopedia definitions of JavaScript, HTML and CSS, screenshots of coding projects) and the history of all the apartment neighbourhoods you lived in (in one chapter, the neighbourhood history bit took three pages.) I honestly don't even want to know all that stuff about some friends of mine. And I'm sure they don't want to know that about me either! So why would complete strangers want to read these facts about the author then? Especially when they are in no way connected to the disability, which is the topic of the book?
It was interesting learning about DLD, as it's not a commonly known disability that nonetheless affects many people around the world. DLD is when a person is born without the innate ability to learn language easily or even express their thoughts, although they do have the thoughts and are fully mentally capable. The author advocates for teaching children with language problems to be given help as early as possible, and stresses the importance of government funding for these sorts of things. The book mostly talks about Britain, but I believe it's just as important for any place in the world. The author himself is a success case of early diagnosis and treatment. The book has been proofread, but in some places you can see the slightly odd grammar, and I believe it was probably left there to be more genuine - and it really does convey and come together with what the author is telling us about the disability. I had no problem whatsoever with that. But I still do believe the book would have been so much better, had the middle part been edited or possibly even cut, or at least rephrased through the lens of "that's how DLD affected the author", because now it simply reads as "bloke in England lived and worked in these places and finished such an such courses", without seemingly having any connection to the theme or topic of the book. One great example of how to achieve great storytelling despite the author's disability might be the book by Lady Gaga's foundation - Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community. There were several stories written by people who had serious mental challenges (some had Down syndrome which makes it all the harder to write and voice your speech), but in the audiobook, these people read their own speeches, and despite having to listen slower due to speech impediments, their speeches were beautiful, touching and to the point. There wasn't anything unnecessary to them, and they were very graceful and interesting. It IS doable and it's simply delivering a quality product. It should be what we strive for - whether we need the help of our teams to deliver the end result, or not. If you want to spread the word about your disability, you still have to make the information approachable. I'm looking at you, Mr/Ms Editor.
All in all, though, of course it was interesting to read about the life experiences of someone with a vastly different set of abilities than most of us. It was interesting to read of the struggles and achievements, although I still find myself wishing to learn more about DLD as a disability. And like the author, I also wish it was more widely known, because then bigger amounts of research and development money would be going to the cause.
Huge respect for the author for writing the book, considering everything. What I was the most impressed with was that despite suffering from a disability related to language processing, the author ends up choosing a career of a web developer - which means coding in man-made synthetic languages. So he's basically tackling the bit that's probably the hardest to learn for his particular challenge! Mad props for that kind of dedication.
And I hope that my review doesn't come off as being rude, mean or ableist - I was trying to avoid that as much as possible, and remain respectful. Since my review has to be honest, I think I would be doing a great disservice to the author's disability too, if I simply said "well, it was badly edited, but I'll give it a great rating because the author has a disability." Please let me know if you think I was wrong in my opinion, or if I failed in remaining respectful. I apologize if it is so, and it was definitely not my intention.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley
If you're someone who thinks they might be autistic, this is the book to read. If you're soHow I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley
If you're someone who thinks they might be autistic, this is the book to read. If you're someone who knows a person who's been recently diagnosed and you're struggling to understand it, this is also the book for you. If you see autistics solely through the lens of stereotypes, then all the more it's a story for you - to understand and grow out of this view.
I liked EVERYTHING about this graphic novel. Everything. From the preface that's incredibly encouraging to those who have always felt they're too different, to the drawing style which is simply precious, to the story itself, which was SO. UNBELIEVABLY. RELATABLE.
Anyway, I really loved the drawings in this graphic novel. Not only are they adorable and the style is amazing, but I've never seen someone ACTUALLY DRAW SOUND and make me feel like I'm hearing it. Situations are just so emotionally presented, it takes me back to my own past and such situations. There's a part where Marguerite slowly feels herself become invisible and disappear while she's sitting at a loud, crowded party, trying to work out how she even fits into all of this. It's so true to how it feels to not belong - becoming invisible, where it seems that even the noise is more visible than you. The artist did such an amazing job.
But the story itself is just as amazing as the drawings are.
From the very first pages where Marguerite gets assaulted with all the awful din of an open plan office or gets called in for a talk with the boss because "not socializing with workmates during your free time" is somehow part of your work performance, everything was just so relatable. I was the one who brought my own lunch and was always misunderstood when the others would rather spend the entire hour waiting in line in a cafe and spending way too much on food that had way too little actual nutrients. I was also the one who would just cut small talk short because, you know, there was work to do - but apparently not actually doing work is preferred in most workplaces? But don't let me rant on, because I'll never stop - I could write a book about every one of these situations and how I could relate to them.
There is so much more that I'd like to share, but I can't, cause some people might know themselves and I don't want them to. I had even written it all out, but then I realized, I really can't share this. This is how close to the bone the story cut.
This book is absolutely recommended. 5 glowing stars. This book was so wonderful. And the only reason I'm not reviewing it on my blog or social media with more detail is because it might be about me, and I'm not sure I can talk about it too openly. I don't want too much detail on this where people from my private life can read it, if you get what I mean.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley 4.5 stars
It was amazing! Colorful and full of imagination, with quite a scary premise and aHow I read this: Free ebook copy received through NetGalley 4.5 stars
It was amazing! Colorful and full of imagination, with quite a scary premise and a constantly moving story which was never too slow. Beautiful illustrations too!
Cricket is always waiting for her dad to give her something her mom would have liked for her birthday, but this year she receives so much more - her mother's journal. However, she doesn't know that it will bring more trouble than joy. Cricket learns that she is special - not crazy, as she thought before. Cricket seems to be neurodiverse - she has what we could call synaesthesia (I'm just drawing a conclusion, that's not mentioned - as I have synaesthesia myself), except Cricket's is probably more magical! The colored dust she's been seeing all her life turns out to be something her mom saw too. Pretty soon, she decides to do an experiment of something she read in her mom's journal, and... Regrets it, because it wrecks her entire life. And now she's got to go to Fairyland to fix it all. And steal her little brother back.
What follows is a pretty amazing journey through magical lands, ruled by an evil female Santa and inhabited by flying cats and whatnot! I found everything very interesting, and specifically very fresh. It's hard to write a Fairyland that's new - there are just so many Fairyland stories, and yet, I really liked the way this one was written. I have to also say that it was specifically centered around empowering girls. Plus, the twists! Brilliant book, and I definitely would love a part 2 if that's ever in the plans.
Oh, and the illustrations are amazing too!
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
This has honestly been one of the best books I've read all year so far! I've been trying to remember whose blog post I read that prompted me to buy itThis has honestly been one of the best books I've read all year so far! I've been trying to remember whose blog post I read that prompted me to buy it so I could thank them - but I can't, for the life of me, remember who it was. I guess it was a year ago. But thanks, friend, whoever you were. This book rocked. It was so fresh, I got through it so fast and was incredibly entertained. By the way, I was in a book slump. This book got me out of it!
It's fast paced, it's unexpected, it's quite a wild ride. But also, despite being a twisty adventure tale about a teen - it's not stale or overused AT ALL. Everything is original and surprising! Reading 100-200 books a year, I find that a challenge - it's a rare thing in a book for me. But this one certainly deserves the praise. Especially all that stuff that went down by the end!!!
Evelina | AvalinahsBooks
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