KJK Reads

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Short Stories, Domestic Fiction, Africa Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I didn’t realise that these short stories would be as hard hitting as they were. I appreciate the blurb warned us and I did expect some harsh truths about the expectations on girls and women in a different culture. Kalimamukwento did a really good job of getting across the pressure of children bearing the hopes and expectations of their parents, especially where the parents move to try give their children a better life. It was also really interesting to see how periods are treated in a different part of the world and the way in which the journey into adulthood/womanhood is marked. I also found it interesting to see the way that same sex relationships are seen in Zambia and the difference to how they are treated in my own country. Overall, these are great short stories for a brief insight into a different culture and a great step...

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Poetry  Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a powerful poetry collection despite its simplicity. The poems are provocative and some really made me feel things, especially those about the child dying with the state of the world at the moment. The images that are used compliment the few poems they go along with despite many being simple, they still evoke feelings with the words.  Favourite Quote: “the ones who never heal end up hostages to their own hate” With thanks to Atmosphere Press and Netgalley for my advanced digital copy of this book.

Rating:  3 Stars Themes: Memoir Thoughts:  I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a lighthearted memoir despite jumping into the gritty in the first paragraph. It’s a lovely celebration of Pride and queer love, and identity when she explores her social life in the 90s. The photos included at the beginning of each paragraph is a nice touch and I liked the chapters having a title too. However, there isn’t much detail about other traumas mentioned from her childhood but I wasn’t aware that it’s a second memoir so most  of trauma she is ‘triumphing over’ (word used on front cover) must be covered in book one so I was in the dark at points.  Favourite Quote:  "I realized once I moved out and began working at The Advocate that the actions you take as an individual can create a ripple effect. By embracing my identity, sharing my experiences, and standing up for my rights, I'd hoped to make a meaningful impact to a ...

Rating: 3.5 Stars Themes: Doodles/Cartoon, Politics Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. These ‘doodles’ or cartoons are so impactful, the book is so full of emotions and anger that I could feel it flying from the pages. It’s awesome to see what an impact a black and white drawing and one or two sentences can have. The fact that most of the drawings were in black and white made the ones where colour was used even more impactful. I did notice some repeats but there was a slight difference in them and it was still an important message despite being told again. Favourite Quote: “My greatest fear... The closet becomes the safest place.” With thanks to Netgalley for my advanced digital copy of this book.

Rating: DNF  Themes: Mystery Thoughts:  I really struggled with this book and don’t think the series is for me. I found that the characters were pretty much all caricatures which in a series is really unnecessary as we have the time to learn about each new main character and the all cops stupid but the new boy trope was done to an extreme. This felt even weirder to me as the story/mystery was slow to start but it wasn’t because we had to meet the characters in depth since they lacked depth and just followed stereotypes instead. It was also weird that Crystal’s scent was mentioned soo much, even if it is important to the mystery later it felt overboard to have it mentioned multiple times a chapter. I found the Brunswick ‘romance’ element really icky with the age thing even for the time. Working it out Brunswick is about 38 but the girl he is fawning over and chasing is only 19 so it’s nearly a 20 year age gap. As far as the point I DNF’d it, these things were irrelevant but eve...

Rating: 3 Stars Themes: Mystery, Suspense, Fiction Thoughts:  I wasn’t sure whether to stick with this book and at one point I mentioned reading it to see if it gets better because it felt like it was taking forever to get started as over 100 pages and we weren’t even in Morocco yet despite the blurb saying soon. I found Florence unlikeable almost from the beginning as she seemed to feel she was better than everyone and deserved more than everyone else while almost blaming them for her not having it yet. I also found Helen and her attitudes unlikeable pretty soon after meeting her so that made me more hesitant about the book but I was confident that they’re being portrayed that way for a reason and they really were. As the real mystery elements unfolded in the latter half of the book I saw that all the build up (that I thought was slowing it down) and Florence and Helen’s characteristics were really important to making the ending work. I was very interested in seeing how the twists...