Cupid Is A Liar by Lexi Davis

Rating:

4 Stars

Themes:

Dark Romance, Valentines Day

Thoughts:

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This was my first foray into darker romance so a shorter book that I could finish in one sitting made a perfect choice. The first thing I noticed was just how much care Davis put into her trigger warnings with a basic trigger being mentioned (e.g. violence and weapons) but then she outlines briefly what sorts of behaviours under that umbrella are present while not disclosing enough to spoil the story itself (e.g. guns, criminal activity, and high stress scenes). I like this as it shows Davis cares about her readers and that she really put thought into it. I liked Hannah as a character as she’s a strong female presence who knows exactly what she deserves and won’t settle for less, she is also more than happy to stand up to men taller and stronger than her which could be dangerous but also shows her inner strength and feisty personality. I also surprisingly liked Damian as he is actually a really decent person but definitely morally grey with the watching/stalking behaviours. I thought the ending was an interesting way to do it as although it alludes to what may happen tomorrow there is no explicit answer so if we wanted to we could imagine Hannah either putting Damian in his place the next day or a blooming relationship depending on how we felt about his actions.

Favourite Quote:

“The point is that men suck. They pull shit like this, and us women are supposed to take it. That's what we're trained to do. Take the blame. Smooth it over. Be understanding. Be cool.”

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

Comments

Mint and Murder by Carly Winter

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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...

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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