Taste the Books: Review Morsels #13 Seanan McGuire, Matthew Green, T.E. Carter

Intro

Hello beauties!

Welcome again to my own brand of mini reviews! I never thought I'd do minis, until I recapped a few of my long reviews in some digest post in 2014, and then guest-posted some shorties for a blogging event in 2015. And Karen from For What It's Worth started praising my short recs/recaps 😊. Just to be clear,  I'm NOT taking a break from writing long reviews - no such luck LOL. But while I'm making up my mind about a new book I've read, I might as well give you the short version 😉. Just be warned - this feature will be VERY random! So, here goes...

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
(Wayward Children #4)

★★★★

So you think it's easy to write a world made of gingerbread and cotton candy? Think again. Because you have to make it solid (pun intended). This installment of the Wayward Children series has the levity of whipped cream and the hardness of a thick chocolate bar (which shouldn't come as a surprise, since Confection is a Nonsense world underpinned with Logic). There's so much world-building in just a few pages - not to mention, we start on good old Earth, and even visit the Land of the Dead. BTSS is your classic quest adventure in a unique universe, and we couldn't have a better spokesperson than Cora, the fat girl with an athlete's body who was once a mermaid. Or a better, more diverse (in every sense of the word) companion cast. Plus, McGuire even addresses an issue I had since Book 1 and provides closure!

Full review to come. (Goodreads pre-review)

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Green

★★★★

Rated 4.5 really.

You know you're reading a good book when there's a whole chapter about poop and it doesn't gross you out 😂.
But seriously. Is this a MG book? an adult book? I think it's both (though I actually wouldn't recommend giving it to children, if it makes sense). It's a great story about the friends we make up when we're kids and scared and/or alone, except they're not less real for that, and even have feelings and ideas of their own. It's an equally great story about an autistic little boy whose smarts ultimately make up for his lack of social skills - if with a "little" help/nudge. And it's an equally great story about courage and sacrifice, and about the way a kid like Max impacts a family - because you can love someone and still not be able/want to see the truth about them. Budo's simple language makes him accessible (and even more real as a kid's creation), and still his insights about the world and the adults in it are spot-on. And I may have teared up a little here and there.
(My only issue: an instance of fat-shaming from Budo, and his unhealthy - if understandable, since he doesn't eat - stance on food). 

Full review to come. (Goodreads pre-review)

I Stop Somewhere by T.E. Carter

★★★

Rated 3.5 really.

At first we're only in the rape room with Ellie - the one who got murdered because, in the end, she didn't stay quiet - seeing a number of victims come and go through her eyes. And I get it, it's necessary; but to me, it doesn't pack the punch one would expect. Then the story slowly starts to spread its wings, and finds its voice. This is an important book in so many respects - not only about rape culture, but also about those girls no one sees before it's too late; and about privilege, and all the people (not necessarily girls) who get left behind. On the other hand, despite all the gut-wrenching quotes I kept marking, I don't think that the staccato writing style does this story justice - hence my rating. Still an important book though.

Note: definitive review (I don't have enough to say to justify writing a full-length one later).

So, have you read/are you planning to read any of the above? And if you have, what do you think of them? Do you post mini reviews? Do you like to read them?