Summer at Sandstone Cottage by Zelda Benjamin

Rating:

2 Stars

Themes:

Romance, Short Stories, Dual POV

Thoughts:

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I had high hopes for this book as I myself spent summers near the beach (although definitely nothing like in this book) so I was hoping for a sunny, nostalgic romance but this book unfortunately fell short of this. Firstly, I understand what the author was trying to do with the disability representation, it felt a little more like inspiration porn than genuine representation which, as a disabled individual myself, left me feeling kinda icky. Also there was very little actual romance in the book aside from hints in each POV that they liked each other so the ending felt rushed and maybe a little forced as they seemed to need more time for an actual romance. However, I did enjoy the actual setting of Sandstone Cottage and with the security team I think there’s definitely an opportunity for another series if it’s done longer so we can actually enjoy the romance more.

Favourite Quote:

“Love has a way of making plans while you're busy planning your life.”

Comments

The War of Sober by Edward Rand

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Broken Glass by Sarah Kay

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Shame-Sex Attraction by Lucas Wilson

Rating: 4 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, LGBTQ+ Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is definitely a difficult read and it took me quite a while to get through it for that very reason. It is split up into 17 different peoples experiences with a foreword and afterword. It’s definitely an important read for many as these practices are still legal in many countries, including my own, and without knowledge of the damage of the practices many may not join in the protests or sign the petitions to try to get laws in place. As a member of the community myself I found some of these stories such as the ‘Sniffing the Gay Away’ and ‘Convert’ especially difficult to read and reminded me just how lucky I was to have such a supportive and loving community around me. I appreciated that the afterword highlighted the limitations of the collection such as having little to no religious, geographical or racial diversity but that they did try to ga...

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