Book Review: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

TITLE: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
Book 9 in the Flavia de Luce series
AUTHOR: Alan Bradley
CATEGORY:often shelved as adult, I say it's middle-grade
PUBLISHED: January 30th, 2018 (in the US)
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Mystery
PREMISE: While dealing with the death of her father, Flavia stumbles upon another mystery...
MY REVIEW: I am a latecomer to the Flavia de Luce series. I read the first book around...two years ago, I believe. The series has been out for quite some time now. With the ninth book, it is coming to an end. I'm sorry to see it go, but I think it's just as well. I could tell the author was running out of ideas of what to do with the series. Some of the previous books wandered in plot a lot. The same happened with this book. But we do ultimately get a good conclusion for Flavia and everyone else in her life. For the record, I wouldn't be opposed to a series about adult Flavia de Luce. Just saying.
It's always a bit bittersweet when a series comes to an end. On one hand...you get to know the characters are going to be okay in the end. On the other hand: no more books. Flavia, I'm going to miss you and your delight in stumbling upon dead bodies.
WHO SHOULD READ: those who've read books 1-8, cozy mystery fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five series coming to an end
RATING FOR SERIES: Four out of Five

Book Review: Most Wanted

TITLE: Most Wanted
Part of the Star Wars canon books
AUTHOR: Rae Carson
PUBLISHED: May 25th, 2018
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Sci-Fi, Media tie-in
PREMISE: Set before the Solo movie, this book goes into how Han and Qi'ra became partners...
MY REVIEW: I saw the Solo movie a few months ago in theaters. It was perfectly decent movie. Completely unnecessary, as are most prequels, but it was a decent film.
This book is pretty on par with most of the new Star Wars books: not necessary to read, but a good time if you're pining for more Star Wars in between the films/TV shows. They also give some nice supplemental info. I actually kind of feel like this gave us some better background on Han, then the movie did. It also gave Qi'ra some much better development, as well.
If you read Star Wars books on regular basis, you know what to expect from this one: lots of action and adventure. It's very fast-paced (I finished it in like, two sittings). If you liked the Solo movie, but maybe wanted some more info on the characters, this is a good one to pick to pick up. There's also one out there about young Lando, so I'll probably look into that one as well.
WHO SHOULD READ: Star Wars fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five space races

Book Review: Undead Girl Gang

TITLE: Undead Girl Gang
AUTHOR: Lily Anderson
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: May 8th, 2018
GENRE: Urban Fantasy. Mystery
PREMISE: A girl raises her best friend back from the dead to find out how she died, but...she winds up bringing back two other girls as well.
MY REVIEW: I normally am not interested in zombies. I don't know why, but they just honestly bore me. There's usually not really much you can do with them. But this one interested me, because there was a mystery and female friendship attached to to it.
For the most part, it's a fun ride. You have to suspend a lot of disbelief while reading it. The main character is a bit prickly, but I personally enjoyed her. But I find all the characters the YA crowd deem "unlikable", are characters whom I wind up liking a lot. Go figure. If you were picking this up because you heard rumblings about there being "great" LGBT rep...there really isn't. The rep is just two adult female side characters who barely get any screen time and it's just mentioned that they're in a relationship. I found them interesting, and would honestly love a book about them. But I'm not sure why it was advertised as great rep as honestly...the characters don't really do anything.
That disappointing bit aside, this was a decent read. I particularly liked where the mystery went. After this, I went and picked up Lily Anderson's debut book, and wound up loving that one as well. The review is coming soon. I think I have a new author to enjoy now.
WHO SHOULD READ: Buffy fans, those looking for books with witches/zombies
MY RATING: Four out of Five female friendships

Book Review: Not If I Save You First

TITLE: Not If I Save You First
AUTHOR: Ally Carter
PUBLISHED: March 27th, 2018
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Contemporary/Romance
PREMISE: A girl needs to save the President's son from getting kidnapped. Too bad she hates the boy's guts.
MY REVIEW: I am pretty much always up for an Ally Carter book. Her books are just fun. This short standalone is no exception. It's a nice breezy pace, with lots of action, just enough detail, and a satisfying story.
It just...wasn't as good as I've seen her do. It's not bad! Again, I enjoyed it. If you're looking for a quick, cute, read, it's a good pick. If you want something with a little more substance though....I'd look elsewhere. This also isn't as good as some of her previous work. I kind of get the sense that it was just written to meet a contract requirement. But at least it was fun. It also apparently takes place in the same world as Gallagher Girls/Heist Society as there's a bit of a reference to one of the spy schools.
So, not the best book ever. But if you just want a quick read with a fun main character, this is a good one to pick up.
WHO SHOULD READ: Ally Carter fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five bedazzled hammers

Book Review: Aru Shah and the End of Time

TITLE: Aru Shah and the End of Time
Book 1 in the Pandava Quartet series
AUTHOR: Rhoshani Chokshi
PUBLISHED: March 27th, 2018
CATEGORY: Middle-grade
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: A girl goes on a quest after she accidentally causes time to freeze after lighting a lamp....
MY REVIEW: I have been meaning to read this for awhile now. I adore Rick Riordan's books, and this new imprint he has going on with his publisher is frankly awesome. I want to read every book that he has previewed so far. Sadly, some of them don't come out until 2020 ;pouts;
If they are anything like this though, we're in for some good stuff, guys. This is very Percy Jackson like, so I understand why Riordan picked it for his imprint. But it does its own thing. I confess...I don't really know anything about the poem that this book is drawing inspiration from. So I can't tell you how well Chokshi is using the mythology or anything like that. I can tell you, she spins an entertaining story, with delightful protagonists.
This is a great start to a new series. The ending is very interesting and I can't wait to see what happens next.
WHO SHOULD READ: Percy Jackson fans, Rhoshani Chokshi fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five sassy birds

Book Review: Freshwater

TITLE: Freshwater
AUTHOR: Akwaeke Emezi
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: February 13th, 2018
GENRE: Er....Magical Realism...I guess?
PREMISE: A young woman grows up with different selves living inside of her...
MY REVIEW: You ever read a book, think to yourself "Like...I'm sensing this is a really good book...but I'm not getting it at all?" Well, that is me and Freshwater. I feel like I maybe needed more information on some sort of myths or something in order to enjoy this. Because I mostly just read this book, feeling confused as hell through out the whole thing.
I'm honestly not sure if this is the fault of the book or just me not giving it the attention it needed or something. The writing is fine, I get what is going on. I just don't understand the why of what's going on. I feel like there's some sort of piece of the puzzle that I'm missing and that kept me from getting fully invested in the book.
I will say, the writing is lovely. There are some gorgeous lines here and there in it. The story however is just weird and doesn't seem to go anywhere. But according to literature people, it did go somewhere. So...I guess I just missed something.
WHO SHOULD READ: Um....not sure, really, literature fans maybe?
MY RATING: Three out of five I just don't get you books

Book Review: Heart of Iron

TITLE: Heart of Iron
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Ashley Poston
PUBLISHED: February 27th, 2018
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Science-Fiction
PREMISE: A sci-fi retelling of Anastasia.
MY REVIEW: So I got this book in my OwlCrate box awhile back. I wasn't really anticipating it or anything, but after enjoying Geekerella, I figured I would at least be reading it. For those wondering about the Anastasia factor...it is definitely there. If you're reading this for the hopes of some Russian inspired sci-fi or something though...you'll probably disappointed. It just takes the bare bones of the movie Anastasia and sets it in space and takes liberties.
Luckily, I liked the liberties. World building wise...this isn't really hard sci-fi or anything. If you're someone who likes the science part of sci-fi, I guarantee the science in here will probably bug you. But story wise and character wise, it was pretty good. It's fast paced and entertaining. I don't mind the relationships that much either. There's a cute side M/M relationship as well as the main one. There's also quite a bit of diversity. I wish the book had advertised those facts more. I bet people looking for those things would like to know the book has it.
Story wise...it goes pretty predictably. But there are some pretty good twists here and there. Particularly at the end. The characters are all enjoyable and it's very readable and entertaining. I'll probably be picking up the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Anastasia fans, sci-fi fans, fans of things like These Broken Stars
MY RATING: Four out of Five lost princesses

Book Review: The Case for Jamie

TITLE: The Case for Jamie
Book 3 in the Charlotte Holmes series
AUTHOR: Brittany Cavallaro
PUBLISHED: March 6th, 2018
GENRE: Classic book referencing, Mystery
PREMISE: Charlotte and Jamie get thrown together for another case...
MY REVIEW: This series continues to be really enjoyable. I love what the author does with the characters of Charlotte and Jamie. Mystery wise...it's about average. But character development wise...it's top notch. I honestly wish this author had been put in charge of the BBC Sherlock show. I bet we would have gotten much better development for everyone. ;is still bitter about how that series turned out;
I can't really go into much without spoiling a lot of the book. But this deals with the fallout of the last book and I love how it dealt with it. It didn't try to demonize anyone or make the reader pick sides or put any character on a pedestal. That was so refreshing, because that can often happen when there's a conflict in book series.
So my feelings on this series are mostly the same. It's an enjoyable riff on Sherlock Holmes. It does gender-flipping well and does something new with the Sherlock Holmes stories. I can't wait to read the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read the first two books, Sherlock Holmes fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five excellent character developments

Book Review: An American Marriage

TITLE: An American Marriage
AUTHOR: Tayari Jones
PUBLISHED: February 2018
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: A detailed look at a marriage and its ups and downs as the husband gets convicted of a crime he didn't commit and goes to prison.
MY REVIEW: I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. On one hand: the writing is great. There are a lot of topics brought up in this book that make you sit and think about things and I loved that aspect of it. The characters are well developed as well.
On the other hand....it was really slow. And I really did not like the ending. I felt like there was all this big amazing build up that...just fizzled out at the end and I was just left there going "that's it? Really?". Which...is unfortunately a thing that often happens with me in literature books.
So I'm torn on how to rate this. It was really good and I liked it. For the first two thirds of the book I thought I might have a five star read on my hand. But then the ending happened. But I don't want to rate a book low just because of the ending. The ending is just one factor of a book. I like to look at all the factors. For most of it...this book was really good. So...yeah, I'm not sure what to rate this one, really.
WHO SHOULD READ: Oprah's Book Club fans, those who like gut-punching kind of books
MY RATING: Three and a half to four out of five troubled marriages

Book Review: Anger is a Gift

TITLE: Anger is a Gift
AUTHOR: Mark Oshiro
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Contemporary
PUBLISHED: May 22nd, 2018
PREMISE: Moss' life gets turned upside down when his school starts getting metal detectors and a heavy police presence...
MY REVIEW: Some of you may know Mark Oshiro from Mark Reads or Mark Watches or his general Mark Does Stuff website. I've been a fan of his for awhile now. I used to actually comment on his readalongs/watchalongs but stopped and now mostly just lurk. So I was pretty excited to hear that he had written a book.
I am pleased to say: it is great. There are a lot of comparisons being made to The Hate U Give and that is definitely apt. This takes a lot of the issues brought up in that book (as well as the book Dear Martin) and builds on it in a wonderful way.
This book does not play. To quote Mark himself: shit gets real. Very fast. There's a bit in the middle and end that is especially gut-punching. Basically, this book is just damn good. Read it. Especially if you need something to tide you over until THUG movie or Angie Thomas' new book in February.
WHO SHOULD READ: THUG fans, Dear Martin fans, Adam Silvera fans
MY RATING: Five out of Five tear stained tissues

Book Review Catch Up Part 3: The Second Half of July 2018

Last of the review catch up posts, I promise. Here are all the things I read in the second half of July.

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding Book 1 by Alexandra Bracken
Category: Middle-Grade
Published: September 2017
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Enjoyable read, as usual, from Alexandra Bracken. Turns out this is going to be made into a movie, so I read it just in time.
Rating: Four out of Five snarky demons

Another Country by James Baldwin
Category: Adult
Published: 1962
Genre: Contemporary
Read mostly because it was on the Great American Read list. I'm kind of slowly going through the ones I haven't read. Not all of them, because there are some I'm just not interested in, at all (Atlas Shrugged, for instance). But most of them I will be reading....at some point.

Robots VS Fairies anthology by various authors
Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-fi
Published: January 9th, 2018
Fun short story anthology that had stories featuring either robots or fairies.
Rating: Three and a half out of Five short stories that I wanted to be whole books

Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley by Emily Chang
Category: Non-Fiction
Genre: Social Commentary/Feminism
Published: February 6th, 2018
A deep look into the sexism of the tech industry. How bad it is, how we got there, why it persists, and how we can change the culture. The book is good and interesting...it's just draining, hearing about all these incidents and seeing all the indifference from some of the people in the industry.
Rating: Three and a half out of Five informative, but sad books

Kat Holloway Book 1: Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley
Category: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Published: January 2nd, 2018
Okay historical mystery. Didn't really impress me, but didn't really fail me either. It's good for if you just want some Downton Abbey-esque feelings with a dash of mystery.
Rating: Three and a half out of Five nosy maids getting shit done

Veronica Speedwell Book 3: A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn
Category: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Published: January 16th, 2018
This series continues to be delightful. If you like slow burn romances, heroines who don't give a fuck about society's expectations, and snark, seriously pick this series up.
Rating: Four out of Five awesome snarky heroines

The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Category: Play
Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: 1953
I started to read this one, and it turns out I actually already have read it...way back in school. I just apparently forgot that. Oh well. If nothing else, it was a good refresher.

Comics read:
Captain America original 1940s series on Marvel Unlimited
Heavy Vinyl vol. 1

Book Review Catch Up Post Part 2: First Half of July 2018

Here are some of the things I read in the first half of July:

River of Teeth Book 1 by Sarah Gailey
Category: Adult
Genre: Alternate History
Published: May 2017
This is a short novella that takes an interesting what if idea and just runs with it. The result is a really fun and fast adventure story. Need to get my hands on the second book.
Rating: Four out of Five hippos (the reference will make sense when you read it)

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Category: YA
Genre: Verse/Contemporary
Published: March 6th, 2018
Contemporary verse novel about a girl finding her voice through slam poetry. I liked most of it, but the ending with the mother left a lot to be desired for me. If it wasn't for that, this would be five whole stars from me, because it's beautifully written.
Rating: Four out of Five let down endings

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
Category: Adult
Genre: Contemporary, literary fiction
Published: January 9th, 2018
Everyone and their mother has been raving about this book and honestly...I don't get it. Half of it was good, the other half...not so much. Also I was really not into the way it stereotyped people a lot.
Rating: Three out of Five side-eyes

Caraval Book 2: Legendary by Stephanie Garber
Category: YA
Genre: Fantasy
Published: May 29th, 2018
Oh Caraval, I have so many mixed feelings about this series. I gave the debut a four out of five, but after much reflection...I would probably rate it lower now. I enjoy this series, it's very readable and everything. There's nothing really bad in it...it's just not really good either. If you like it, I get it. I like it too. But...I also fully acknowledge that quality wise...it's not the best.
Rating: Three and a half out of Five generic, but enjoyable fantasy reads

American Panda by Gloria Chao
Category: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Published: February 6th, 2018
Cute and fluffy contemporary about a girl finding her way while dealing with controlling parents.
Rating: Four out of Five satisfying reads

Magic Misfits Book 1: The Magic Misfits by Neal Patrick Harris
Category: Middle-Grade
Genre: Contemporary/Adventure
Published: November 2017
Yes, NPH wrote a book. It was...just okay. The thing with middle-grade books is that there are two kinds: ones written with a general audience in mind...and one just written for tweens. This was written for tweens and they should be happy with it. I am not a tween, therefore, I was not really the target audience for the book.

Graphic novels read:
Generation X (2017) series (yes, the whole thing, I recently got a Marvel Unlimited subscription and have been putting it to use)
America Vol. 1: The Life and Times of America Chavez
Runaways (2017) Vol. 1

Book Review Catch-up Post Part 1: June 2018 Reads

Yeah...I'm woefully behind on reviews on here. I have been reading...I just haven't been terribly motivated to post reviews. So I'm going to do a catch up and try to get back into the swing of reviewing/posting stuff this month.

Here are the rest of the books that I read in June:

Rebel Mechanics Book 3: Rebels Rising by Shanna Swenson
Category: YA
Genre: Steampunk/Historical Fantasy
Published: April 2017
Rating: Three and a half out of Five steampunk outfits
Okay ending. Everything tied up a little too quickly and neatly for my taste. A bit of a let down after how great the second one was.
Rating for series: Three and a half out of Five

Tyranny of Petticoats Book 2: The Radical Element by various authors
Category: YA
Genre: Historical Fiction/Historical Fantasy, Short Stories
Published: March 13th, 2018
Rating: Four out of Five awesome female leads
If you've read Tyranny of Petticoats, this is just more of the same. Lots of good stories in this one.

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi
Category:YA
Genre: Contemporary
Published: January 23rd, 2018
Rating: Three and a half out of Five
I like the overall message in this book, and there were some beautiful passages of writing in it. But the story overall...just fell a little flat for me for some reason.


The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Category: Adult/Classics
Genre: Contemporary
Published: 1905
This was...interesting. It was a bit slow for my taste, but overall I liked it. I find that Wharton's books tend to subvert expectations and I really like that aspect of her books.

Numair Chronicles Book 1: Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce
Category: YA
Genre: Fantasy
Published: February 6th, 2018
Rating: Four out of Five
I adore the Tortall books and pretty much everything Pierce writes. So it was a given, I was going to read and enjoy this. However, even as I enjoyed it...I think the series is unnecessary as most prequels are. It gives good insight to Numair's character...but that's honestly about all it does. But this was mostly just build-up, I think I suspect the next book will be where everything I actually care about happens. Such as Numair meeting Alanna and co.

The Collected Poems by Langston Hughes
Category: Classics
Genre: Poetry
Published: This edition, was published in 1995. It includes all of Hughes poems written over the the years, going as far back as the 1930s.
Still very new to poetry, so I can't comment on the quality. But I personally loved these. I also found some that were written over fifty years ago that are still relevant today. Part of me thinks it's because Hughes was just that good and part of me also thinks its because our society has not evolved as much as we like to claim.

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Category: Classics
Genre: Non-Fiction/Philosophy/Politics
Published: 1513
If you're into history, you'll probably like this. As a lot of it is Machiavelli talking about politics and drawing from examples of history to back up his ideas. I just honestly found it dull.

Graphic Novels read:
Ms Marvel Vol.s 7 and 8
Batman and the Outsiders Vol. 1
Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2

Book Review: To Kill a Kingdom

TITLE: To Kill a Kingdom
AUTHOR: Alexandra Christo
PUBLISHED: March 6th, 2018
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, Retelling
PREMISE: A retelling of the little mermaid where the mermaid actually becomes human so she can kill the prince...
MY REVIEW: I admit it, I was a bit skeptical going into this. Mermaid books and me, really do not get along as a rule. But to my surprise...I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is a tad generic. Sorry, but retellings of the Little Mermaid happen all the time. So I can't give it higher then four stars. But it is still a very readable and entertaining book.
My favorite part about this book, hands down, were the side characters. Particularly the Prince's crew. They were an utter delight. They snarked at each other, supported each other, it was all great. It gave me a lot of Six of Crows chosen family vibes. That's my weakness. So that had a lot to do with my enjoyment of the book. I always say: if your plot is not going to be the most original out there, make sure your characters are awesome so people want to stay and read it. And the author succeeded in that quite a bit.
This was just a fun, but also kind of angsty, entertaining read. It did exactly what it set out to do, and I think the author did a fairly good job on it. The fantasy debuts this year are doing a much better job then last year, I must say. I still say it needs to do better on the diversity/LGBTQ plus rep though. I'm hoping the success of Children of Blood and Bone (which I still need to read) gets the ball rolling on the diversity front at least.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the Little Mermaid, dark fantasy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five solid retellings

Book Review: Leah on the Offbeat

TITLE: Leah on the Offbeat
Companion book in the Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda series
AUTHOR: Becky Albertalli
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: April 24rth, 2018
GENRE: Contemporary, Romance
PREMISE: Simon's friend Leah goes through her own set of troubles as she deals with the looming of college, dealing with her sexuality, and a crush on a girl that she thinks is hopeless...
MY REVIEW: I love Becky Albertalli's books, so I should probably give a bias warning for this review. She's basically an auto-buy author for me now. So whenever there are more Albertalli books in the future, I will be reading them.
As with all of Albertalli's books, this one was just cute. It is fast paced, there's some great lines in it that just nail things, and there's a romance I actually don't mind. I will admit that story wise...this was all over the place and I kind of think it lost focus too much. Quality wise...I think it's not as good as her first two books.
But it is still very enjoyable. At the end of the day, it was mostly what I wanted from it, so I'm not complaining too loudly and don't think it's bad or anything like that. I can't wait for whatever she has in store for us next. The only one I know of coming out is the one she's writing with Adam Silvera that's coming out later this year. I am thrilled about it and have my money and my tissues ready.
WHO SHOULD READ: Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five happy reads

Book Review: Gunslinger Girl

TITLE: Gunslinger Girl
AUTHOR: Lyndsay Ely
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: January 2nd, 2018
GENRE: Dystopian
PREMISE: A girl escapes her home life and goes on a journey to a town where she becomes a sharp shooter for entertainment...
MY REVIEW: These James Patterson imprint books have been a real mixed bag for me. Much like how James Patterson's books are, now that I think about it. This latest book is no exception. I do give the author many points for creativity factor and readability factor. But story-wise...it was just okay all across the board.
The world-building is really interesting and where I see most of the creativity. She also writes nicely and cleanly and manages to spin a fast-paced tale. But other then those things...nothing much about this stood out for me. The characters were all the usual types that you see in YA these days. The story was okay...but not what I'd call a must read. Even the writing, which I mentioned was nice...is just okay. Everything is just...okay. Nothing, aside from some creative world-building, really stands out in this book.
So I don't know how I feel about this one to be honest. I enjoyed it as I read it. There's nothing particularly bad about it or anything. It's just...very average. I basically finished it, shrugged, and then promptly moved on to the next book in my pile. But I've seen some people love this. So...I don't know. I say check it out from the library, and see if it's for you, before buying it.
WHO SHOULD READ: James Patterson fans, dystopian fans, Hunger Games fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five shrugs

Book Review: The Dangerous Art of Blending In

TITLE: The Dangerous Art of Blending In
AUTHOR: Angelo Surmelis
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: January 30th, 2018
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: A boy tries to survive high school and an abusive household all while dealing with his growing knowledge that he is gay.
MY REVIEW: First I'm going to give several trigger warnings for this book. The character's mother is incredibly abusive, both physically and emotionally. He also faces major bullying and there's lots of homophobic language used throughout the story by people. If all of that is triggering for you...maybe wait to read the book. I mean it started to piss me off while reading it and I'm not even gay, nor have I ever been abused. But the people in this book (not the main character or his love interest, but like the bullies and the mother and basically every crappy person enabling them in that town) just made me so freaking angry. If you have any sort of empathy...it'll probably make you angry as well.
Which is probably what hindered my enjoyment of this. But I also recognize, this book was not written with me, a het-leaning demisexual woman, in mind. It was written for gay teens. To give gay teens hope. To show them they can survive and it gets better and all of that. This is a daily reminder: just because something does not speak to you. Does not mean it won't speak to anyone else. Not every book/movie/TV show is written for just you. Which I think is a good thing. It means we get more variety in our entertainment.
So personally, I had a hard time enjoying this one. But I also see that story-wise it's good. The writing is powerful. For people who need this kind of book in their lives, I definitely recommend it.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of things like Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, The Miseducation of Cameron Post fans, etc.
MY RATING: Four out of Five powerful stories that weren't for me, but still good

Book Review: Chaotic Good

TITLE: Chaotic Good
AUTHOR: Whitney Gardner
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: March 13th, 2018
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: A girl who is sick of being ostracized by male geeks, dresses up as a male to be able to go her local comic book store in peace. Things do not go how she plans...
MY REVIEW: This is more of what I am taking to calling geek lit. I am mostly enjoying these geek lit books. But one thing about them is bugging me, and that thing persists in this book: it does not call out the geek world on its issues enough. I know what you're thinking, wait...this book sounds designed to call out the stuff like sexism in it? And to be sure, Gardner definitely goes farther on calling out shit then most of these books do. But...I can't help but notice it never once mentioned the word sexism, nor did it imply that the problem was sexism and that's...really baffling to me. This was talking about fake geek girl crap, and fake geek girl crap exists, mostly because of sexism. There is some of the usual bs elitism that floats around geeks involved as well, but mostly....it's sexism. I've yet to see any male geek who didn't know some obscure piece of information get called a fake geek. Laughed at a bit, sure. But he's still welcome to play Dungeons and Dragons. If a female geek doesn't know the random thing, she gets told to go away and stop pretending she's a geek.
Honestly, the way the author handled the character of Brody in general, just really bugged the shit out of me and dragged down the whole novel for me really. Yes, sometimes a character would tell him he was being a jerk. Cameron got a great tell off scene at the end. But...even she never once told him to his face that hey, you're being sexist, you know that, right? Quite frankly...someone really needed to tell him this.
I'm sorry, but I've dealt with way too many guys in fandom who are like Brody. Who will say all the bs he says, then insist that they totally aren't sexist, how dare you suggest such a thing! It's been my experience, guys like Brody...tend to ruin fandom. My advice to anyone who runs into a guy like him is a) Call him on his shit, please. Tell him outright he is being sexist and it is not okay. B) If he doesn't change his behavior...ditch him. Because if he sticks around spreading his toxic views to the group, your friend group is going to disappear, because they don't want to deal with him.
If it wasn't for Brody and the mishandling of that entire issue...I would have liked this a lot more. The main character is fun, it does address some stuff like male privilege and does that well. It did try to address the fake geek girl stuff and definitely said it was wrong...but by not talking about the sexism part of it...I'm not sure if it handled the subject that well. All of this is just more then a little disappointing as I loved this author's last book so much.
WHO SHOULD READ: Queens of Geek fans, Geekerella fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five sad sighs

Book Review: This Will Be My Undoing

TITLE: This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
AUTHOR: Morgan Jerkins
PUBLISHED: January 30th, 2018
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Essays
PREMISE: A series of essays by Morgan Jerkins diving into things like feminism, racism, pop culture and so much more.
MY REVIEW: Lately I've found that I really enjoy essays. Particularly I like listening to them via audiobook. Which is what I did with this one and I highly recommend it. The author does the narration herself and she's pretty good at it.
I personally really liked this one. As with most essay collections, some are better then others. One or two go a little too long for my taste, but she still makes her point. The subjects raised are interesting ones that not many people talk about. For instance, she talks about a trip to Japan and the differences between how she was treated there, versus the United States.
I think it was a pretty solid collection. I hope we see more from this author in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that like essay collections, Roxane Gay fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five interesting essays

Book Review: The Belles

TITLE: The Belles
Book 1 in The Belles series
AUTHOR: Dhonielle Clayton
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: February 6th, 2018
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: In a world where beauty is everything, one girl competes to be the favorite Belle and learns that there is more to her world then there seems...
MY REVIEW: I admit it...I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this. People kept comparing it to The Selection and I kind of loathe that series. But thankfully, this turned out to be ten times better then The Selection (and frankly, nothing like that series) and I wound up really enjoying it.
It is not really groundbreaking stuff. YA fantasy that does social commentary happen all the time. But this is very enjoyable and very readable. I love the world Clayton has built here. Like with The Cruel Prince, it's one of those worlds that has me itching to get out my drawing supplies, it's so vivid. The main character is enjoyable, there's plot intrigue, some good twists at the end, and I honestly kind of love the villain in this.
This was just a very nice, solid, YA fantasy. I think YA fantasy and I are starting to get our groove back. I've really enjoyed the last few I've read and that has been a nice change from the past year of just okay to boring fantasy books.
WHO SHOULD READ: Dhonielle Clayton fans, if you enjoyed all the descriptions of the Capital in Hunger Games (this place is like the Capital on steroids)
MY RATING: Four out of Five solid starts to a series