Nightmare in Fantasyland by Emily Bellemonte

Rating:

4 Stars

Themes:

Non-Fiction, Memoir

Thoughts:

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I appreciate that no book is for everyone but I think this is a book that everyone should read. Emily is brutally honest with her experiences through experiencing a narcissistic relationship itself and the continued manipulation while trying to leave in a way that will likely help others who are questioning things themselves to identify with and hopefully save someone else from giving years of their life to a facade like she did. She also tackles both cyberstalking and cyberbullying and the toxic nature of some fandoms through her own experience with a fandom turning on her so that we can see the human and real life impact of the actions some take online. In a way she puts a surviving human face to cyberbullying in a way that many others don’t get that shows the potential life long damage behaviours like this have. I was rooting for Emily throughout and am so glad she has gotten free and found a way to live her life despite everything she was put through and hope this book can provide the same to others.

Favourite Quote:

“When the fantasy finally shattered, I was left alone in the ruins surrounded by the broken pieces of what once was. There was no knight in shining armor coming to save me, no gallant figure charging in on a white horse with banners flying and my name on his lips. The fairy tales had lied; no rescue party was on its way. If I was to be saved, I would have to be my own savior”

With thanks to Booksirens for my advanced digital copy of this book.

Comments

Mint and Murder by Carly Winter

Rating: Stars Themes: Short Story, Cosy Mystery Thoughts: Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I had to read this book, seeing it was available, after reading Pipers Piping and Puppies last year. I did read it as a standalone (it’s not the first time I’ve read a series out of order and likely won’t be the last) I managed to follow along fine although I’m sure I’d have understood the relationship dynamics better had I read it in the correct order. I found the story great and as for the mystery I was guessing myself right the way through until Sam figured it out. Sam is a strong female main character who feels worth investing in so I may have to go search some more of the Heywood Herbalist series out. I enjoyed seeing Sam interact with her friends as they had great chemistry and it felt real, and also really liked Sam’s interactions with Doug as it added another layer of humanity to her and reality to the town. I would love ...

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...

Porn is Not Sex Ed! by Jessica Melendez

Rating: 3 Stars Themes: Non-Fiction, Young Adult Thoughts: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. In the age of lessening sex education this book could be a great tool to help bridge the gap. I appreciate the talk to an adult bits that can encourage children to start to have conversations that are important but they often think are cringy. The note to trusted adults bit at the end is great too and there’s quite a few useful activities to help the messages really sink in. Some of the points here such as fetishisation and body image are really important ones that I never learned that young (which could be the reason I had such poor body image as a teen) and for the most part the book talks to kids on their level although some areas may feel a little immaturely worded for older teens. With thanks to Hachette UK and Netgalley for my advanced digital copy of this book.

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