Happy weekend, y'all! I hope you're soaking up these glorious weekend vibes just the same as I am. It's actually been a bit rainy where I am these past couple days, and everyone knows that rainy weather is made for reading. I'm hoping it'll start pouring today so I can snuggle up with some tea and a good book. Fingers crossed! On this day, Saturday the 3rd, I hereby present to you my review of The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass! I'm so sad because I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn't. There was a lot of stuff that didn't sit well with me. There's nothing quite like the despair of a book not living up to your expectations 😭. Anyway, read on, I'll hash it all out in my review! Thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! Synopsis and Book Information
My ReviewI really wanted to like The Taking of Jake Livingston, but it just wasn't for me. I do think it's awesome that it's a horror novel featuring a queer, black protagonist. It has a ton of great representation. Unfortunately, horror novels just aren't my cup of tea, and there were some really disturbing scenes that bothered me. Overall, it was very dark, and I wish I'd been aware of the heavy content present in this book before requesting an ARC of it. There is a lot of potentially triggering stuff in there, so please check out the content warnings before picking up this book! I was also quite confused about a lot of what happened and why things were happening; I would have loved to know why, exactly, Jake can see ghosts, or what even is the ectomist? I felt like many elements of this book were half-baked, just there without any explanation as to why, seemingly just to heighten the creepy vibes. I'm also not sold on including Sawyer's diary entries, told in his own POV, being a good choice; they were deeply disturbing and made me very uncomfortable, and they also had the potential to make readers sympathetic toward him--which, I know he went through a lot of terrible stuff, but he also did many truly horrific things, and the author left me in a place where I was unsure of whether to sympathize with him as a victim or despise him as a villain. I honestly felt like Sawyer was a more dimensional character than Jake, though, which was rather disappointing. Jake honestly didn't have much character at all; he was mainly described as being black, queer, and capable of seeing ghosts, with no other characteristics really being described. His relationship with his family was also rather strange, and there was an awkward explanation for his family's tension tossed in at the end, which just felt forced and sudden. Additionally, the romance felt oddly paced and pretty unnecessary to the plot. So overall, I feel a bit let down by The Taking of Jake Livingston. I'd been really hoping to love it, but there were a lot of elements that I just didn't enjoy or found very uncomfortable or disturbing to read about. However, I do think it's exciting that there's a horror novel with such diverse representation out in the world, and I hope other people will enjoy this book more than I did! That's all for my review of The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass! As I unfortunately did not like this book, I only gave it 1 Star ⭐️. I hope that, if you decide to read this book, you'll enjoy it more than I did...although, once again, please check out the content warnings before reading!
Do you like horror novels? What are some of your favorites? Let me know in the comments! Have a fabulous day, y'all! See you around!
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Hey there, bookworms!My name is Rose (she/her) and I'm the creator of Books of Magic and Mystery. I love reading YA books, especially fantasy and mystery. When I'm not reading, you can find me baking, studying, or cuddling with my super-furry pets. Visit me on Instagram @booksofmagicandmystery! Archives
November 2021
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