Book Review: Check, Please! Year One by Ngozi Ukazu

Check, Please! Year One 
by Ngozi Ukazu
Publication Date: 2015
Format: Webcomic
Genres: Graphic Novel - LGBTQIA+ - Sports 
Find it On: Webcomic - Amazon - Goodreads
My Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis:

Eric Bittle - former figure skater, vlogger extraordinaire, and amateur patissier - is starting his freshman year playing hockey at the prestigious Samwell University. And it's nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia. For one?

There's checking. 

It's a story about hockey and friendship and bros and trying to find yourself during the best four years of your life.

My Review:

Looking for the cutest and most endearing coming of age/coming out/basically an American sports anime with amazing art published for free entirely through crowdfunding? This is the place!

Check, Please Year One starts the story of Eric Bittle, a former junior figure skater from Georgia who makes it onto an NCAA hockey team in college. He's quick on the ice and a good shot, but the problem is that he's terrified of checking. With his scholarship on the line, he has to get over his fear and win over the team enough for them to keep him around.

What I absolutely love about this series is how it defies expectations. You've got a very flamboyantly gay kid from the south who plays hockey and bakes pies in a frat house. And you know what? No one gives him shit for it! The way "bro culture" is portrayed is so spot on, but all the bigotry and narrow-mindedness you'd expect is sucked right out. There is obviously a greater institution of homophobia in Bitty's life, but in every phase of his coming out to the people around him, he's met with love and support.

The cast of characters is phenomenal, too. Who doesn't love ultimate frat boy Shitty, or stoic hockey robot Jack? In this first book we're just getting glimpses of all of them, but it's a great ensemble cast, and I never felt overwhelmed as they were introduced.

I have a LOT more gushing to do about this series, but so much happens in later books, so I'll save it for another review. If you've heard the hype about this series and thought if picking it up, DO IT! It's a quick read and entirely free on http://checkpleasecomic.com/

Diversity Score: Author of color (+3), Gay/bi main characters (+2), Main character with mental illness (+2), Main relationship with different sexualities (+2), Supporting characters of color (+1) = 10

Book Review: Caroline's Heart by Austin Chant

Caroline's Heart 
by Austin Chant
Publication Date: October 25, 2017
Format: E-Book, 98 Pages
Genres: LGBTQIA+ - Fantasy - Western
Find it On: Amazon - Goodreads
My Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis:

Cecily lost her soulmate years ago, leaving her with nothing but the clockwork heart that once beat in Caroline's chest. They say it's impossible to bring back the dead, yet Cecily's resurrection spell is nearly complete and grows more powerful by the day. 

But when a cowboy she barely knows is fatally injured, the only way to save him is by sacrificing an essential piece of the resurrection spell—and all possibility of seeing her lover again.

My Review:

Austin Chant has done it again and created a badass, emotional, and captivating story in less than 100 pages! There's so much going on in this book. There's Roy, the wayward cowboy who has no real home or ambitions other than just getting my. There's Cecily, the witch both feared for her aloofness and cold attitude and respected for helping the injured in her village. Then of course there's Caroline, a lost love whose memory has lived on, probably for longer than it should...

How a novella has complete world building and a slow-burn romance in 98 pages, I don't know, but it really does. The magic of the world is cool. Cecily, a witch, can do basic spells like summoning items or teleporting across a room. But the main thing she does is create artificial limbs for injured people. There's not much explanation beyond that, but for the length of the story, the physics of the world sit perfectly and make sense for the forwarding of the plot.

Roy and Cecily were also fantastic leads. Roy, while private and closed off from others, has such a warm heart that everyone seems drawn to him. And Cecily, while extremely prickly, shows her goodness in the righteousness of her actions. 

Like all of Chant's work, this is a trans romance - this time with both MCs. This plot works so beautifully as there's so much richness to the metaphors of being at conflict with your own physical body. It's also a blended fantasy and western historical fiction, so well the word "trans" is never used, it has some great exploration about the characters' identities without being a soapbox. 

It reminds me of a sort of trans Howl's Moving Castle with a little Fullmetal Alchemist twist (don't attempt human resurrection, y'all!) Definitely dark in places, but a really beautiful story of some memorable characters.

--

"That's not how I am. It's no disguise for me. And I can't tell you how or why, but when I said I considered myself a man, that's what I meant."

"I had a very queer childhood. I was a girl and witch and I wasn't supposed to be either, according to my family."

"I sort of figured I was the only one who ever--the only one God ever made a mess of."

Diversity Score: Own Voices (+5), Trans/Bi main characters (+2), Supporting characters with physical disabilities (+1) = 8

Book Review: The Vanishing Spark of Dusk by Sara Baysinger

The Vanishing Spark of Dusk 
by Sara Baysinger
Publication Date: January 8, 2018
Format: ARC E-Book, 366 Pages
Genres: Young Adult - Sci-Fi - Romance
Find it On: Amazon - Goodreads
My Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis:

Stand up.

When Lark is stolen from Earth to be a slave on the planet Tavdora, she’s determined to find her way back home to her family, no matter the cost. Placed in the household of a notorious slave trader, Lark quickly learns her best assets are her eyes and ears. And if she’s brave enough, her voice.

Be heard.

Kalen is the Tavdorian son of a slave trader and in line to inherit his father’s business. But his growing feelings for Lark, the new house slave who dares to speak of freedom, compel him to reveal his new plan for the slave ships returning to Earth—escape. Together, they just might spark a change that flares across the universe.

Fight back.

About the Author:

Sara Baysinger grew up in the heart of the Andes Mountains in Ecuador where she spent her childhood exploring uncharted lands and reading all things magical. She now lives among the endless cornfields of Indiana with her husband and two young children. Sara enjoys writing and reading anything out of the ordinary, and has a bad habit of zoning out at the most inopportune moments. She is currently considering seeking medical attention for her potentially life-threatening coffee addiction.

Website / GoodReads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

My Review:

I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This is the fourth book I've received for review from Sara and let me tell you, it's always a pleasure to pick up her work!

The Vanishing Spark of Dusk did a 180 from her other series, a dystopian, and dove into hard core Sci-Fi. The main character, Lark, is a human stolen from Earth by a race of aliens who have systematically enslaved humanity. Lark's home in what was Indiana is one of the last known strongholds of "free" humans on Earth. Headstrong, desperate for freedom, and determined to see her terminally ill mother again, Lark does whatever it takes to escape her captors - even if her life of "enslavement" doesn't seem all that terrible.

Jumping in from that synopsis, I do think it's important to note that this story walks a very fine line of apologism. Is a person from a culture built upon slavery ever forgivable, even if they themselves fight for abolition? If they are improving the lives of individual slaves, fighting to change the system, or even literally freeing people, can they ever be truly absolved while they are still benefitting from the system they oppose? That's a real deep moral can of worms, and I'm not entirely sure I share the opinions this book presents, but I'm proceeding with this review without getting deeper into that analysis.

I love the characters. Lark is an engaging protagonist because she's brave, outspoken, etc., all the things you'd expect from a strong female protagonist. But more than these traits, the most important thing about her is her compassion and hope. It is these strengths of character that get her from point a to b in the story, and they're such essential human qualities that it's really easy to relate to her as a reader.

Kalen's a little harder to talk about without getting into my disclaimer above, but he's well-writen, for sure. The fine line he treads between his role as the son of a merchant empire and his own moral standards makes for interesting plot and character development. The cool thing about him is that I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop somehow, but instead of him doing something awful, or him falling into a trope I was dreading, he would surprise me with true actual dedication to being a good person. By the end of the book, I was much more understanding of Lark's feelings towards him than I thought I would be.

Honestly, the coolest part of this book is its handling of sexuality. When you start venturing into other worlds with alien cultures, I always roll my eyes at how many human prejudices are built into completely foreign cultures. Kalen's culture is largely polyamorous, but it's not disgustingly sexualized. Like, I didn't feel like I was reading some weird pseudo-erotica, as much as sex was mentioned. Also! Consent. Was. Important. A+++ to you, Sara, for creating such a great world with that built in. There was also queer rep in some supporting characters, so extra kudos.

The plot itself unfolded much in the way I expected, and honestly, sometimes things came too easily to Lark. I would have personally enjoyed feeling more danger for her situation (she gains favor and privileges in her new situation real fast, with very minimal resistance, or even fear on her end). But the reason this was so binge-worthy was the characters. For such a dark topic, it was amazing how so many characters would surprise you with their humanity. What a refreshing twist for this genre! 

Diversity Score: Multi-racial main relationship (+2), Supporting gay character (+1) = 3

Book Review: The Black Notebook by Isabelle Snow

The Black Notebook 
by Isabelle Snow
Publication Date: January 1, 2018
Format: E-Book, 391 pages
Genres: Young Adult - Contemporary - Romance
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon 
My Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis:

Trust is a funny thing isn’t it? It’s great to be trusted by your friends, but when practically the entire school - even the popular kids - are sharing their deepest, darkest secrets with you...that’s when things get messy.

Seven Warrilow has been keeping everybody’s secrets for as long as she can remember. She knows who likes who, who hates who, and all the hot gossip. But you know what? She’s sick of it! With all that classified info jumbling around in her head it’s hard to think straight, so Seven decides to write down every secret she’s ever been told into a small black notebook that she carries around for safekeeping. There, now she can breath a little.

OR NOT!? Things take a turn to Disasterville when her notebook goes missing, and when it finds it’s way into the hands of notorious prankster, Colin Stillman, the trouble really begins. Seven’s going to have to use everything she’s got to keep her classmates secrets safe, but Colin isn’t going to make that easy. After all...where would the fun be in that?

About the Author:


Isabelle Snow is a 20-year-old artist residing in the Philippines. Through her love of art and telling stories, she became a writer and has been writing since 2012. She is also an artist who specializes in graphic design and illustration, occasionally dabbling in animation. 

My Review:

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Every so often, I'm pleasantly surprised by high-school romances. This is one of those rare books that melts my jaded, post-grad heart.

This book stood out to me because there was a plot behind the romantic tension. Seven has had a crush on Colin for ages without doing anything, but having her notebook of secrets stolen gives her a reason to essentially stalk him, daily chasing him down to get the precious book back. They start spending time together--a lot of time--so of course there's high school gossip and hi-jinks, not to mention their own sabotaging of each other that even drags their families into the mess.

But like I said, the why-don't-they-get-together-for-300-pages actually makes sense! They both doubt their own right to happiness and they spend so much time second guessing themselves and sacrificing for others. Yeah, it's a romance, but it's a coming of age story for both of them, too.

The book wasn't exactly deep, but it was fun, cute, and well-written. Seven was a great narrator while Colin was a dreamboat (a little *too* perfect to be real, but hey, an author can dream). All-in-all, a great novel for the author's debut!

Book Review: Loving Lakyn by Charlotte Reagan

Loving Lakyn 
by Charlotte Reagan
Publication Date: November 20, 2017
Format: ARC E-Book
Genres: Young Adult - LGBTQIA
Find it On: Amazon
My Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis:

Lakyn James is sixteen years old and hating every second of it. He was supposed to be done, he'd tapped out. End of story, unsubscribe here. Suicide "attempt", they said. His intentions had no "attempt" in them. 

Re-entering normal life after ‘trying’ to take his own is weird. Especially when the world keeps going like it never happened. He still has to eat breakfast, go to school, and somehow convince a cute boy that he’s too damaged to date.

Scott White comes with his own problems, namely a habit of drinking too much and being indecisive about rather he wants in the closet, or out of it. Lakyn can’t stand him; he also can’t help smiling when Scott’s around.

Unfortunately - or fortunately - for Lakyn, life has decided to give him a second chance. He's not happy about it, but maybe, with a lot of hard work and a good therapist, he can learn to be. And maybe he can hold Scott’s hand at the same time.

No promises though.

About the Author:

Hey guys I'm Charlotte Reagan!

I'm 23 years old; born, raised, and currently residing in a small town in Texas with my cat. I've been writing pretty much all my life, even when I was too young to know how to put my stories down on paper. Once I started I couldn't seem to stop! I still have boxes of old notebooks filled with ideas and plots that I never finished. I write young adult romances focusing primarily on the LGBT+ community. I hope to have lighthearted stories that bring about hope, laughter, and maybe even a few tears. I can usually be found with my laptop or off traveling somewhere!

The LGBT+ Community and LGBT books have always been a source of great support for me and I hope that my books can maybe be there for someone else.

Goodreads / Twitter / Website

My Review:

If you follow my reviews or blog, you’ve probably picked up on how much I utterly adored Just Juliet. Not only was the book amazing, but working with Charlotte for the launch was incredible as she is such a well spoken and lovely person. When I was approached about reading Loving Lakyn, I knew I wanted to be a part of the launch again, but here’s the thing: I don’t review books that include self-harm because it’s a hard subject for me. I’m in a better place than I was when I originally made a hard and fast rule for myself about that, and after sitting down and discussing it with my therapist, I sat down and binged this book in a day.

Here’s the thing I knew as soon as I picked up the book: it is a damn good book.

The title serves as a pretty good summary to the book: it’s about learning to love Lakyn. Lakyn is a high school boy with a hard life. He is gay in an unwelcoming family and an unwelcoming world. He suffers from mental illness and for many years, has no real support network for dealing with it. He handles it with self-harm and self-destruction. There are few people he cares about and the few he does have he pushes away.

Here’s the thing: Lakyn is not a pleasant character. He is throughly miserable and does miserable things, and while this book is about his happiness improving, there isn’t a magic fix-all that makes him as “happy” as he seems in Just Juliet. So that means that this book really is his inner dialogue, and this is about how far he gets in his recovery. That’s just so spot on to how it is, how different a person’s head is from the perception of those around them, and that was subtly and beautifully written.

The new perspective on Juliet was also fascinating. Aside from loving another glimpse into her character, she held an important place in this book in recognizing that you can’t save everyone. As a person who has been fighting depression for years, I can tell you, depression glasses make it a lot easier to see other depressed people. Lakyn spends so much time helping himself and helping Scott that, at a point, he realizes he has not been helping Juliet. It opens an interesting debate on whether he had a responsibility to help her just because he noticed her spiraling. Should he have said something? Should he have sat his uncle down and demanded help for Juliet? How could he have done that when he wasn’t even over the hurdle of asking for help himself? Without giving a direct answer or glorifying one way or the other, I think this painted a realistic relationship of one struggling person relating to another.

The love story itself is what really got me, though. Again, it’s spiraling person meets spiraling person. But Scott is a unique character in how deeply hidden his pain is. He’s a jock, he has friends, he has a stable life. But these things don’t protect your from prejudice, internal or external, and it really takes the whole book for Scott to unravel his struggles let alone overcome them. It’s also an exploration into the difference between being closeted or out, and the expectations of what acceptance will look like versus the reality of when it doesn’t. Without giving away the story, the romance plot is beautiful, and most importantly to me, it is not about them fixing each other. There is a point that Lakyn realizes how easy it is to fall down the rabbit hole of saying “Scott makes me happy and therefore Scott is the source of my happiness,” but there is a major hurdle he overcomes in recognizing that relationships cannot work with that kind of expectation. Not only does he not drag Scott down with that, but he also recovers with Scott’s *help* but not by pawning off his problems.

I’m ranting, I know I am, but this book is beautiful and deserves every star I can give it. I’m sorry this review is more of a discussion of the topics than the book itself, but I don’t think something this heavy deserves being reduced to a discussion of syntax and plot structure. It was a trip for me to read more so than a book usually is and I’m just so glad I had the emotional energy to tackle it.

Diversity Score: Own Voices (+5), Gay MC (+2), MC with mental illness (+2), Supporting gay and bi characters (+1), Supporting character with mental illness (+1) = 11

Book Review: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Turtles All the Way Down 
by John Green
Publication Date: October 10, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Genres: Young Adult - Contemporary - Romance
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon - iBooks
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. 

In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship.

My Review:

Okay, I'm going to be really critical in this review, so to get this out of the way first: I love John Green. He is an amazing and imaginitive author. This book is *well-written.* the words are like poetry, the sentences and syntax fit together into objectively good writing, and a mediocre book by John Green is eons beyond the quality of the average book.

But man, was this not for me.

The best way I can describe this is that it felt like a shell of a book, like it was the plot outline before it was fully fleshed out. Maybe I'm nostalgic for the first time I read Paper Towns or Looking For Alaska--and mind you, I was a lot younger when that happened--but there was a certain magic that just wasn't there. 

My biggest problem was that Aza was a caricature of a disease. Don't get me wrong, OCD and anxiety are terrible and debilitating diseases. But it's so reductionist to assume that a disease is synonymous with a person's personality. Aside from Aza's love for her car, there is honestly no personality trait that I can use to explain Aza that isn't a textbook symptom of her mental illness. It's like John Green took his role as an educator of this illness so seriously that he forgot he was writing a fiction book. Maybe this book will help someone understand mental illness. Maybe it will make a teen with OCD feel understood. But honestly I feel like there's a real dangerous can of worms opened when you're teaching people that a person *is* their disease, and I was just not here for that kind of narrative.

The other characters were quirky, but dang, were they all supposed to be awful? Daisy was the worst. Davis was kind of boring and also kind of a jerk. (No, you don't get a sticker for loving someone who's sick!) Aza's mother was an enabler and even minor friends like Mychal were so damn rude. Can Noah be my favorite? He was pure and un-jerk-like. I nominate Noah as my favorite.

There was a plot, it was kind of cool, but for something along the lines of a mystery, there was no suspense. I liked the moral dilemma that Aza and later Davis faced regarding the importance of facing the truth, but it was so buried in everything else that the book was trying to do.

The whole "turtles all the way down" thing was a cool metaphor, but I find it hard to believe that someone in serious mental health care and years of things exposure therapy could have any new angle with which to consider her disease by her late teens. More of the same I said before: this book became so much of a mental health pamphlet that it forgot to be a novel.

Diversity Score: Own Voices (+5), MC with mental illness (+2) = 7

Book Review: They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

They Both Die at the End 
by Adam Silvera
Publication Date: September 5, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
Genres: Young Adult - LGBTQIA - SciFi
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon - B&N
My Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis:

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They're going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they're both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There's an app for that. It's called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure and to live a lifetime in a single day.

My Review:

You'd think with a book called "They Both Die at the End," I wouldn't be letting myself love the characters. But nope, I played myself. I cried like a baby at the end.

In an alternate 2017, there is a service that calls you at midnight on the day you're going to die. They don't know how or when, but sometime before the next midnight is your time. Of course because this is 2017 and America, there are plenty of companies profiting on this system, including an elaborate social media website that connects "Deckers" together and catalogues their last day.

Mateo and Rufus, the main characters, are drawn to this site because they really have no one in their life to mourn them. They eventually say "screw it" and try the site, and what they find in their "Last Friend" is each other.

This isn't a coming-of-age story necessarily, because it only takes place in 24 hours, but you start with Mateo, a socially awkward boy who barely leaves his apartment, and Rufus, a foster kid who's filled with rage, and the two of them spend their literal worst day ever together and somehow bring out the best in each other.

It isn't quite insta-love either. They're dying. They know they're dying. But their connection to each other is so genuine and addicting to read. I never thought I'd support an "I love you" dropped within a day of meeting, but damn do these boys love each other and you can't tell me otherwise.

There's a great cast of supporting characters in their friends and their misadventures throughout the day are fun to read. I could have done without the side-stories, but, to be fair, this book would have been about 200 pages without them.I've never read Adam Silvera before, but you can bet I just ordered the rest of his books! 

Diversity Score: Own Voices (+5), MC of color (+2), Gay MC (+2), Supporting character of color (+1) = 10

Book Review: Leo Loves Aries by Anyta Sunday

Leo Loves Aries (Signs of Love #1)
by Anyta Sunday 
Publication Date: December 4, 2016
Format: E-Book, 377 Pages
Genres: New Adult - LGBTQIA - Romance
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis:

A new person will enter your life in the early year, Leo. Look past any moments of frustration they might bring and laugh—this could be the start of a thriving friendship.

Theo Wallace usually laughs at the horoscopes his mom sends. Still hung up on his ex-girlfriend and practically friendless, this one begs him to reconsider. Because a friendship that stuck, that thrived…

Well, that would be a reason to leave past pains behind and look to the Bright Future.

When his sister Leone challenges him to find her the perfect date for a spring wedding, Theo uses it as a chance to make new friends. Theo’s ex economics tutor and newest roommate Mr Jamie Cooper seems to be a possible and convenient match. Real convenient. Like written in the stars, convenient.

All he has to do is make sure this Jamie is good enough. Could really be the one for her, and the friend for him.

My Review:

What this book is:

- A really adorable romance. Theo lives with his blind sister, Leone, whom he adores and kind of smothers with support. When they need a roommate, Theo convinces his former TA/Tutor, Jamie, despite having done nothing but annoy Jamie for a year of lecture. As Theo and Jamie grow close,r Theo realizes that he'd make a perfect boyfriend - for his sister. 

- A Slow-Burn Relationship with fun twists and turns. I'm not much of a romance reader, but Sunday seems like a master of the genre. She strikes a perfect balance of quirky and cute alongside a more serious and realistic development of their relationship. 

- An awesome bunch of characters. Aside from the romance, the friendships in this were fun to watch unfold. It was one of those feel-good everyone's hanging out like an episode of Friends books.

What this book isn't:

- Queerpositive. I know nothing about the author, but she's fundamentally missing something about coming out. "He had the luxury not to care. His mom, his dad, his sister, and his friends were as rainbow-supporting as they come." Yeah, my parents are accepting people, too, but um, SOCIETY is homophobic as hell. Honestly, if I told someone I was gay, and they responded with "I'm not but I'll sleep with you because I think this identity that you clearly value is NBD and gay sex sounds fun," I'd be hard-pressed to not hit them. So it turns out that Theo's - whatever - is just a plot device to make for hijinks and confusion. But he doesn't even come out by the end! Gay? Nope. Bisexual? What the hell is that word? Nah. I'm just a dude crushing on a dude. 

- A book about economics students. More of a "LOL" for me, but I got a B in Intro to Microeconomics and I understand everything that a graduate-level economist was saying. Having them have a "thing" was cute, but it was adorably transparent how little the author knew of the subject.

Cute? Very. Well-written? Excellent. Kind of low-key offensive? Yeah. Too personal of a subject for me, so I don't think I'll be reading the next book, but I think this would be really enjoyable to someone who could take that with a grain of salt.

Diversity Score: Gay and bi MCs (+2), Main relationship with different sexualities (+2), Supporting character with a physical disability (+1) = 5

Book Review: Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live by Sacha Lamb

Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live 
by Sacha Lamb
Publication Date: August 22, 2017
Format: E-Book, 67 Pages
Genres: Young Adult - LGBTQIA - Romance
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon
My Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis:

Avi Cantor Has Six Months To Live

Avi comes across these foreboding words scrawled on the bathroom mirror, but what do they mean? Is this a curse, a prediction, or a threat from Avi's emboldened bullies? And how to they know his real name when he hasn't even told his mother yet?

Then there is Ian—the cool new guy at school, who is suddenly paying attention to Avi. Ian is just like Avi, but he is also all sunshine, optimism, and magic. All the things that Avi doesn't know how to deal with...yet.

A romantic, #ownvoices fairy tale for trans boys.

My Review:

How was such a short story such a trip? Cause let me tell you, in 70 pages, I had feelings.

Avi Cantor is a quasi-magical story of a high-schooler mid-transition. While he has told no one his name--Avi--the words, "Avi Cantor has six months to live" appear on the bathroom mirror at school. What Avi assumes is an uncanny new bullying technique turns out to be a lot more complicated.

Without spoiling this beautiful story, let me tell you, that summary, while accurate, is not what the story is about. It's not about bullying; it's about self-loathing. It's not about avoiding death; it's about facing life.

I'm hesitant to call this magical realism, but it has a beautifully surreal and sardonic prose that fans of The Raven Boys--or even Marquez--would love. And I'll be damned if this isn't one of the most poignant books about depression that I've ever read!

P.S. If there is a movie/tv adaptation and Ian Alexander isn't Ian, I will consider the world ROBBED.

Diversity Score: Own Voices (+5), Main character with mental illness (+2), Trans and gay main character (+2) = 9

Book Review: One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake

One Dark Throne (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake 
Publication Date: September 19, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
Genres: Young Adult - High Fantasy 
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon
My Rating: ★★1/2

Synopsis:

The battle for the Crown has begun, but which of the three sisters will prevail?

With the unforgettable events of the Quickening behind them and the Ascension Year underway, all bets are off. Katharine, once the weak and feeble sister, is stronger than ever before. Arsinoe, after discovering the truth about her powers, must figure out how to make her secret talent work in her favor without anyone finding out. And Mirabella, once thought to be the strongest sister of all and the certain Queen Crowned, faces attacks like never before—ones that put those around her in danger she can’t seem to prevent.

In this enthralling sequel to Kendare Blake’s New York Times bestselling Three Dark Crowns, Fennbirn’s deadliest queens must face the one thing standing in their way of the crown: each other.

My Review:

I'll say the same thing here that I said with book 1: I love Kendare Blake. I love Anna Dressed in Blood . I want so very very much to love this book, but man, it is not for me.

My biggest beef with the first book was that the three sisters weren't all that interesting, and that still stands. Arsinoe is arguably the main character, and her I like. She has a real backbone while still being insecure in herself, and the things she endures are incredible. Mirabella is prissy and delicate and she stays, well, prissy and delicate. She has next to no story and honestly, she's only there to be a buffer between Katherine and Arsinoe. And Katherine! What a potentially wonderful character whose ball was totally dropped. Girl isn't a poisoner and just drinks poison on the reg because she's heavy metal like that. But--and I don't even know how, she had plenty of chapters of narration--this book didn't get into her head at all. I think Blake was being so mysterious about what happened at the end of the last book that her narration was too cold and distant the whole book.

I think part of the reason I didn't feel like the sisters had "screen time" was because there were so many supporting characters. Each sister has a love interest, a few members of their adopted families, and a couple of friends. Unpopular opinion time: I literally don't care about Jules. She keeps popping her head in like she's the main character. I don't care about her feeling like a bad friend. I don't care about her relationship with Joseph. I don't care about her powers. Why is she there? Give me more Mirabella, more Katherine, more action, please! For Mira's story, I'm already underwhelmed by her, I don't also need her friends who have no part in the plot. The side story I was somewhat invested in was the Arron family, but the twist with them at the end came so suddenly that I didn't even have time for it to hit me.

I'd forgive some of this, and maybe give this three stars if the action was good, but it felt so contrived. I guess the entire thing with the queens is contrived and I need to take the premise with a grain of salt, but if any queen can just call for a gathering or a duel at any time, how do these things not go a lot faster? I know these sisters in particular are having reservations about the system, but historically, how would this system not allow blood thirstier triplets to kill each other on day one?

Two saving graces I'll give this. First, BILLY! This precious child carried the entire weight of the book on his perfect shoulders. He transcended the sisters' stories more this time and bless his soul, he made Mirabella's chapters worth reading. What a champ. I think I'm going to be a minority on this one, but my other breakout favorite character was Pietyr. Balls of steel, that boy's got. After the last book he has the gumption to come back and insist he loves Katherine and that she should break the rules to love him back. He is every bit as twisted as she is, and he doesn't even have a bad childhood as an excuse. Keep being jealous and angry, my smol son.

This book's got some cool things going on, I'll give it back, but a series of cool gimmicks doesn't hold a novel together. 

Book Review: The Bucket List by Emily Ruben

The Bucket List by Emily Ruben 
Publication Date: June 21, 2017
Format: E-Book (ARC), 395 Pages
Genres: Contemporary - Romance - New Adult
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon
My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis:

Leah thought that the turmoil in her life had come to an end. That is, until the boy-next-door who’s just moved in, turns out to be none other than her old childhood best friend, Damon. Rekindling their friendship, the two become inseparable and life seems perfect, until Leah learns a tragic secret; Damon is terminally ill and has only one more year to live.

Leah and Damon decide to embark on an adventure to have the time of their lives and cross out every to-do on their ‘Bucket List’. With the clock ticking and time precious, will they be able to complete every goal before time runs out?

About the Author:

"My name’s Emily, I’m a twenty year-old French writer and I’ve been writing ever since I could hold a pen. I wrote my first story with my childhood best friend but I continued on my own, filling notebook after notebook before I could own a computer. At which point I started cover hundreds of Word pages with my ideas. I love to write the stories people wouldn’t automatically expect, with twisted plots or unhappily ever afters." 

Website - GoodReads - Twitter

My Review:

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Bucket List is a sweet and heartfelt love story much in the vein of teen authors like John Green. Leah and Damon, age 20, haven't spoken since a terrible accident in high school broke up their lifelong group of friends. Leah isn't brave enough to reconnect until fate brings them together again, but while fate gives them a second chance at love, that chance isn't long lived, because Damon has a terminal illness.

This is a plot that's been done before, but Ruben brings her own twist to it. Their thing is that Damon isn't going to just sit around for his last year. Rather, he and Leah agree to do every silly to outrageous thing on his bucket list, from singing on a tv competition to skydiving. There are some great ups and downs to their characters, and Leah is a fun narrator who's whole personality isn't just about her love interest.

It didn't bother me too much that Damon's illness wasn't explained. Ruben writes a bit about that after the book, that she wanted the book to be about living--not about dying--and I can get behind that. Their life situation was a bit over the top, though. They were able to afford everything because Damon "worked through high school." Puh-lease point me to that job! And Damon says it's hard to interact with his parents, but there's no way someone without serious parental issues would entirely ignore their family with a finite time left to live.

That's just me nitpicking, but really, the biggest downfall of this book is pacing. Aside from a few minor set backs, the majority of the book is just...them doing the bucket list. Let's do a cool thing! We flew to the cool thing! We're doing the cool thing, yay! Rinse and repeat for about 200 pages. With little to no variation between events, and no major change in their relationship, I just wasn't invested enough in them as characters to read their antics a dozen times.

I wish she had found a way to bring more variety to the story, because they were really a fun couple, with a great supporting cast and a sad but feel-good story.

Book Review: Moon River by Amber D. Tran

Moon River by Amber D. Tran 
Publication Date: September 17, 2016
Format: E-Book (ARC), 222 Pages
Genres: Contemporary - Coming of Age
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon
My Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis:

In this debut novel from author Amber D. Tran, a tale of adolescence and heartbreak unfolds. Nine-year-old Abigail Kavanagh first meets Ryan Mills during the summer of 1999. A shy and awkward boy, Ryan hides behind his wide-framed glasses while Abigail is determined to learn everything there is to know about him. The next few summers are filled with birthday parties, adventures in and around the West Virginian mountainsides, and late night conversations where they share their most secretive and personal thoughts.

Their friendship starts to crumble when Abigail befriends the attractive and musical Lilly Anderson, a girl who is also interested in uncovering the mysterious nature surrounding Ryan. However, everything comes to an end the summer of 2004, and Abigail must decide if her new journey is worth traveling alone. 

About the Author:

Born and raised in the heart of the Appalachia, Amber spent her childhood growing up on gravel roads and playing Pokémon Red on her Game Boy Color. At the age of 10, she discovered her fascination with creative writing and turned a 1-page homework assignment into a 35-page document for her 5th grade teacher. Less than a year later, she wrote her very first book about a female basketball player with leukemia. She will spare you the pain from having to read it.

After graduating Magna Cum Laude from West Virginia University in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a concentration in creative writing, Amber moved to northern Alabama. She married her husband after meeting him in a Dragon Ball Z chat room. She is currently employed as a senior technical writer and Scrum Master for a software company. In her free time, she enjoys playing League of Legends and discovering dive bars with her girlfriends.

She is featured in Calliope, Sonic Boom Journal, HeartWood Literary Magazine, Speculative 66, Blue Stoat, and Spry Literary Journal. Her novel Moon River was released in September. Her essay "Saltwater" will be featured in the upcoming anthology This Bridge Called Language, available in print in 2017.

Amber currently lives in Alabama with her husband and two dogs, Ahri and Ziggs.

Website - Twitter - Instagram - Facebook - GoodReads

My Review:

*Thank you to the author and The Review Chain for providing an ARC of this book*

Moon River is a well-written and deeply emotional coming of age story of a girl, Abigail, growing up in rural Appalachia in the early 90s. From what I can gather, it is a partially, if not entirely autobiographical story of the author's childhood involving a boy on whom she had a lifelong crush and a handful of friends and acquaintances involved in his story. 

That being said, I think the summary provided for this book is a little off base. While Abby's friend, Lilly, is of course a major character, it seems to me that this book all came down to being Ryan and Abby's stories. Not just about them growing up, but also about all the people who let them down and slip through the cracks. Without any major reveals, the main character ends up getting mental health treatment in the course of the book, and there's this really great way that the author built the story so intricately that we as readers completely missed how much she was suffering, despite being in her narration.

This is, of course, a debut novel. I think there was some amount of its autobiographical nature getting in the way of storytelling. There were many scenes that could have been cut, or characters that could have been combined. But the emotional weight of the story lands perfectly, and Ryan's story had me hooked until the end. 

This is a quick read, so I definitely suggest picking it up! Reading it may open your eyes to some people around you. And above all, I hope the process of writing this has helped the author release some of what she's been holding.