Things I’ve Read Recently – Laina Has Too Much Spare Time

If you’re new around here, Things I’ve Read Recently is a series of posts I do that are basically mini-reviews of books that I either forgot to review, didn’t have enough to say for a full review, or just didn’t want to do a full post about for whatever reason.

My brain is broken in this post but we’re gonna try anyways, alright?

The Next Great Paulie Fink by Ali Benjamin

Published: April 16th, 2019 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre: Contemporary YA
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 368
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): When Caitlyn Breen enters the tiny Mitchell School in rural Mitchell, Vermont, she is a complete outsider: the seventh grade has just ten other kids, and they’ve known each other since kindergarten. Her classmates are in for a shock of their own: Paulie Fink–the class clown, oddball, troublemaker, and evil genius–is gone this year.

As stories of Paulie’s hijinks unfold, his legend builds, until they realize there’s only one way to fill the Paulie-sized hole in their class. They’ll find their next great Paulie Fink through a reality-show style competition, to be judged by the only objective person around: Caitlyn, who never even met Paulie Fink. Who was this kid, anyway–prankster, performance artist, philosopher, or fool? Caitlyn’s quest to understand Paulie is about to teach her more about herself than she ever imagined.

Thoughts: This was really fun. I liked the way it switched between different perspectives, including interviews and emails, and I liked the message it had. Caitlyn is a former mean girl and she doesn’t really understand why she used to do things like that and she spends a lot of the book learning not to care so deeply about what people thought and the “unspoken” rules.

I’m very tired and that’s all I’ve got.

Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris

Published: October 25th, 2022
Genre: Adult thriller with a historical setting
Binding: Large print paperback which I ordered accidentally but was honestly nice
Page Count: 466 but again large print, so I think the standard edition has like 400
Part of a series? This is a companion/prequel to All Her Little Secrets, which I also enjoyed
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): It’s the summer of 1964 and three innocent men are brutally murdered for trying to help Black Mississippians secure the right to vote. Against this backdrop, twenty-two year old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble than she’s ever been in her life. Suffering a brutal attack of her own, she kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet’s skin, there is no way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. Before anyone can find the body or finger her as the killer, she decides to run. With the help of her white beau, Violet escapes. But desperation and fear leads her to hide out in the small rural town of Chillicothe, Georgia, unaware that danger may be closer than she thinks.

Back in Jackson, Marigold, Violet’s older sister, has dreams of attending law school. Working for the Mississippi Summer Project, she has been trying to use her smarts to further the cause of the Black vote. But Marigold is in a different kind of trouble: she’s pregnant and unmarried. After news of the murder brings the police to her door, Marigold sees no choice but to flee Jackson too. She heads North seeking the promise of a better life and no more segregation. But has she made a terrible choice that threatens her life and that of her unborn child?

Two sisters on the run – one from the law, the other from social shame. What they don’t realize is that there’s a man hot on their trail. This man has his own brand of dark secrets and a disturbing motive for finding the sisters that is unknown to everyone but him…

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this. I liked the author’s first book, which this is a companion to, but you don’t need to have read to read this, and I really liked this one. It’s an interesting, important time period to set a book in, and I thought the author did an excellent job of using that setting.

I also really liked the relationship between the sisters.

The ending was a little underwhelming and I didn’t think Marigold or Violet did a ton to advance the plot, especially at the end, but overall, I liked it and would recommend this.

Representation: Obviously Marigold and Violet and most people in the book are Black, lol. There is also a queer character, which is a nice touch in a book set in 1964.

Content notes: Racism, lynching, slurs, miscarriage, homophobia, abuse, rape. I will add here that while those things are discussed, they are explicit without being graphic. For example, the fact that Violet was raped is discussed, but not shown.

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Published: July 12th, 2022 by Scout Press
Genre: Adult Thriller
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 420 (lol) plus acknowledgments
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide… including a murder.

Thoughts: I’ve heard a lot of good things about Ruth Ware so I was excited about this… but it didn’t work super well for me. I thought it was a bit dull, unfortunately. It’s a good premise, but I spent a lot of the book just waiting for something to happen and… like nothing did. Neither timeline was particularly interesting, and the pre-murder timeline honestly was just kind of dull college drama.

The most interesting parts, to me, was when Hannah eventually met April’s younger sister, who is both a really cool character and causes Hannah to have a lot of struggle because she looks a lot like April and is similar to her, being her sister. That is some cool emotional stuff.

Otherwise… eh. It just didn’t do much for me personally. However, I do have other Ruth Ware books I’m interested in. So we will try again with Ware’s books. This one just was not for me.

Representation: One of Hannah’s friends from school uses a wheelchair after having a stroke at a very young age.

Content notes: Murder, violence, sexual assault, stalking, pregnancy.

The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf

Published: February 5th, 2019 by Salaam Reads
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 274 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Melati Ahmad looks like your typical moviegoing, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

But there are things that Melati can’t protect her mother from. On the evening of May 13th, 1969, racial tensions in her home city of Kuala Lumpur boil over. The Chinese and Malays are at war, and Mel and her mother become separated by a city in flames.

With a 24-hour curfew in place and all lines of communication down, it will take the help of a Chinese boy named Vincent and all of the courage and grit in Melati’s arsenal to overcome the violence on the streets, her own prejudices, and her djinn’s surging power to make it back to the one person she can’t risk losing.

Thoughts: This was super good. This isn’t an event I really know a lot about (and the author’s note at the beginning giving some context was very helpful and I appreciated it) and it was really interesting to read.

This is the type of historical fiction I’d love to read more of. There’s this really thing it does where for a while at a certain point in the book, nothing really happens, and the nothing happening is scary and tense and you really feel that. Then, obviously, things pick up, but the amount of tension in the pacing is really amazing.

I would definitely recommend this and I really enjoyed it.

Representation: It’s set in Malaysia. People are Malaysian and Chinese. Shocker. Mel has OCD and is Muslim, as are many many people because… duh. I feel silly writing these for books like this.

Content notes: Racism, graphic violence, on-page death, OCD and anxiety triggers. The author’s note at the beginning of the book includes this warning, which was nice.

Oof, that was a rough post. Hopefully y’all liked it anyways!

What have you been reading lately?

– Laina

adult review, middle grade review, Things I've Read Recently

Things I’ve Read Recently (154): Some Mixed Emotions Here

March 18, 2024January 21, 2024 laina1312

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

Published: June 21st, 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Adult Thriller
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 349 plus acknowledgement and such
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.

One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage is not as perfect and placid as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey becomes consumed with finding out what happened to her. In the process, she uncovers eerie, darker truths that turn a tale of voyeurism and suspicion into a story of guilt, obsession and how looks can be very deceiving.

Thoughts: Another book, another attempt at reading the book for the Literally Dead Book Club. One day. One day I will get one early enough to be involved. I haven’t read a Riley Sager book before, but I wouldn’t say no to reading more. I’m not sure I’m going to rush out and get them, but I liked the writing and it was fun to read. It’s not a very complicated book, but it was interesting.

I liked the dual timelines and how they played out, I liked the main character’s voice, but the romance felt super unnecessary. I feel like this is going to be very hit or miss with people, where they either love it or hate it, but for me it’s just kind of in the middle. It was fine. I can’t see myself remembering a lot about this in a few months.

Representation: Nope.

Content notes: Spousal abuse, murder, general spooky thriller vibes, alcohol abuse.

The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera

Published: This edition is from 2003, but the book was originally published in 1987
Genre: I wanna say magical realism?
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 152
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Eight-year-old Kahu craves her great-grandfather’s love and attention. But he’s focused on his duties as chief of the Maori in Whangara, New Zealand—a tribe that claims descent from the legendary “whale rider.” In every generation since the whale rider, a male has inherited the title of chief. But now there is no male heir—there’s only Kahu. She should be next in line for the title, but her great-grandfather is blinded by tradition and sees no use for a girl.

Kahu will not be ignored. And in her struggle she has a unique ally: the whale rider himself, from whom she has inherited the ability to communicate with whales. Once that sacred gift is revealed, Kahu may be able to reestablish her people’s ancestral connections, earn her great-grandfather’s attention—and lead her tribe to a bold new future.

Thoughts: This really just wasn’t my cup of tea. It’s an interesting story, and honestly I think I would probably like the movie based on this book a lot more than the book itself, but the voice just wasn’t my thing. My other problem was just that I read the summary of this and it sounded great. And then I read the author’s note at the beginning saying he wrote this because his daughters asked why girls and women always needed to be saved in movies.

But this whole book is told from Kahu’s uncle’s POV. She doesn’t get a voice in her own story. We don’t really get to know her thoughts, her feelings. She’s utterly replaceable with basically any “Chosen Girl Who’s Better Than Boys” character. Like, great, she doesn’t need to be saved. But she’s just nothing to the story. If this is Kahu’s story, why is so much of it about her uncle’s time in Australia and New Guinea that has no connection to her?

Also goodreads says this is a children’s book but I really thought it read like an adult book? Like there’s a fair amount of references to whales having sex, and the voice doesn’t read like it’s for children at all for me.

Representation: Basically every character is Maori lol.

Content notes: Death of a parent, graphic animal death, child endangerment, racism, so much sexism, fatphobia.

Revelator by Daryl Gregory

Published: August 31st, 2021 by Knopf Publishing Group
Genre: Southern Gothic
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 333 plus acknowledgements and whatnot
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): In 1933, nine-year-old Stella is left in the care of her grandmother, Motty, in the backwoods of Tennessee. These remote hills of the Smoky Mountains are home to dangerous secrets, and soon after she arrives, Stella wanders into a dark cavern where she encounters the family’s personal god, an entity known as the Ghostdaddy.

Years later, after a tragic incident that caused her to flee, Stella–now a professional bootlegger – returns for Motty’s funeral, and to check on the mysterious ten-year-old girl named Sunny that Motty adopted. Sunny appears innocent enough, but she is more powerful than Stella could imagine – and she’s a direct link to Stella’s buried past and her family’s destructive faith.

Thoughts: This was weird and I do enjoy weird things. It’s a true Southern Gothic, in my opinion, not a horror book, and I think it does the Gothic thing more than it does the horror thing. If you’re going in expecting horror, you’re not getting it. This is very much about the atmosphere and it’s definitely unsettling. I think this could be scary for some people, but I definitely just found it kind of unsettling.

I really liked the setting. This is really silly, but Dolly Parton is from the Smoky Mountains and I really like Dolly Parton XD But it’s just in general it’s a great setting. It can be so isolated and the woods and mountains are just so good to tell a story with. It feels like a weird maybe-God, maybe-monster would land in the Smoky Mountains and people would start worshipping it.

Overall, I liked this and I’d like to read more like this. For a random book I found on tiktok for a book challenge, it’s not a bad result!

Representation: Like one character isn’t white lol.

Content notes: A loooot of body horror. Things are Not Right with the Ghostdaddy. Not a lot of gore, just weird body stuff. There isn’t sexual assault, but the body autonomy of young girls is not respected well.

No Exit by Taylor Adams

Published: Originally published in 2017, this edition was released in 2019 by William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins
Genre: Adult Thriller
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 351 plus acknowledgements and such
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers.

Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate.

Who is the child? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out. One of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper. But which one?

Trapped in an increasingly dangerous situation, with a child’s life and her own on the line, Darby must find a way to break the girl out of the van and escape.

Thoughts: I liked this a lot more than I expected to. This showed up at the library as a mass-market paperback and most books I read these days aren’t in that format, so I think I was expecting something a little different, honestly. I think I was expecting more, like, old man thriller, if you know what I mean?

This wasn’t the most challenging book I’ve ever read, but it was a lot of fun. The way the author used cliffhangers and twists at the end of chapters is almost exactly the same way that Goosebumps used to do them and it works for adults the same as kids, honestly. And now that I think about it, I think this is kind of filling the same niche as Goosebumps, but for adults.

Also it’s set three days before Christmas and I read it on December 26th, so that was cool.

Content notes: Kidnapping, child endangerment, discussions of rape, discussions of child trafficking, murder, a fair amount of gore. I think some people would be really bothered by the amount of gore but it didn’t go too far for me personally.

What have you been reading lately?

– Laina

adult review, Things I've Read Recently

Things I’ve Read Recently (153): This post has been in my drafts so long I forgot what was in it

March 4, 2024January 21, 2024 laina1312

The Snow Collectors by Tina May Hall

Published: February 12th, 2020 by Dzanc Books
Genre: Gothic… futurism? Mystery? I’m not even sure.
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 221 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Haunted by the loss of her parents and twin sister at sea, Henna cloisters herself in a Northeastern village where the snow never stops. When she discovers the body of a young woman at the edge of the forest, she’s plunged into the mystery of a centuries-old letter regarding one of the most famous stories of Arctic exploration—the Franklin expedition, which disappeared into the ice in 1845.

At the center of the mystery is Franklin’s wife, the indomitable Lady Jane. Henna’s investigation draws her into a gothic landscape of locked towers, dream-like nights of snow and ice, and a crumbling mansion rife with hidden passageways and carrion birds. But it soon becomes clear that someone is watching her—someone who is determined to prevent the truth from coming out.

Thoughts: This was an odd book. I found it a bit dense and reading it while I was a little too tired made me feel not particularly smart. The writing can be very lovely, with some truly beautiful language, but it can be kind of a lot at times.

Also, I liked it. It’s weird and has some weird Gothic vibes that I really enjoyed and I loved the setting. A small town in the north is a great place to set a book, and the cast is so small that you do really get a great sense of all the characters. It also has a really interesting setting time-period wise. It feels old, like it could be set in the 1930s, but it’s actually set in a near-future where there are computers and cellphones but technology hasn’t advanced very much, but also bees have gone nearly extinct and most of the glaciers have melted. There are also some fantastical elements. I find it almost impossible to define the genre because of that, but I really enjoyed that.

If you like weird books, I would honestly recommend this one. I could see this appealing to people who like things like Sorrowlands – that’s what it reminds me most of, I think. Overall, this was a really interesting read and I liked it.

Representation: Nah.

Content notes: Murder, grief, discussions of cannibalism.

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Published: January 26th, 2021 by Berkley
Genre: Adult Romance
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 336 plus acknowledgements and such
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Shay Goldstein has been a producer at her Seattle public radio station for nearly a decade, and she can’t imagine working anywhere else. But lately it’s been a constant clash between her and her newest colleague, Dominic Yun, who’s fresh off a journalism master’s program and convinced he knows everything about public radio.

When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay proposes a show that her boss green-lights with excitement. On The Ex Talk, two exes will deliver relationship advice live, on air. Their boss decides Shay and Dominic are the perfect co-hosts, given how much they already despise each other. Neither loves the idea of lying to listeners, but it’s this or unemployment. Their audience gets invested fast, and it’s not long before The Ex Talk becomes a must-listen in Seattle and climbs podcast charts.

As the show gets bigger, so does their deception, especially when Shay and Dominic start to fall for each other. In an industry that values truth, getting caught could mean the end of more than just their careers.

Thoughts: Okay, honestly, when a book has the phrase “sexy Gritty costume” in it, I’m gonna like it. I will say, for some reason I thought this was a sapphic romance so I had to quickly recalibrate my expectations once I started reading it and realized Dominic was the love interest and not, like, just a random guy Shay hated but once I got there, it was good!

This was cute and funny and I liked a lot of what it had to say about adulthood and not being entirely happy with the way your life is going in your thirties. It’s very relateable. I can see why everyone has been talking about this one, because it’s fun. My only caveat is I’m not the biggest fan of first person POV in romance novels, but I didn’t mind it too much in this.

Representation: Shay is Jewish, Dominic is Korean. There’s a nice amount of representation amongst the rest of the cast as well, in a really nice casual way. Like a coworker of theirs mentions dating men and woman, that kind of thing.

Content notes: Mild sexism, light mentions of grief, nothing heavy.

Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner

Published: January 19th, 2021 by Dutton
Genre: Thriller
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 280 plus acknowledgements and book club questions and such
Part of a series? Yes, there is apparently a sequel.
Got via: Secondhand from the thrift store.

Summary (from goodreads): Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will–searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.

A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim’s wary family tells Frankie she’s on her own–and she soon learns she’s asking questions someone doesn’t want answered. But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing could be her.

Thoughts: Now this is a lesson in actually reading the books you own. One of my 2022 Daily Nerd reading challenges is to read a book someone gifted you. People don’t really gift me books, so I picked this at the thrift store and had my mom give it to me for my birthday, which technically counts, I think.

And I kind of loved it. It reminds me of the premise of cozy mysteries, a normal person who just kind of nosy poking around until they solve a crime, except it’s a bit more realistic and less cozy. Frankie is a great main character – she’s giving off some Kinsey Milhone vibes that I adored. Also she’s really broken and I like the broken ones.

I also appreciated the way the book talked about Frankie’s privilege as a white woman in a majority Black and minority neighbourhood. She talks a lot about how she uses that privilege to her advantage, and when it actually work to her disadvantage, because people don’t trust her. She also puts a lot of attention on the fact that the narrative of missing people in the media often means that certain people, specifically minorities, are ignored and pushed under the rug. I personally think it’s handled well throughout the book. A narrative like this does have the possibility to lean into White Savior territory but I think this manages to stay away from that, though I will obviously not argue if anyone does feel that way.

Honestly, probably one of my favourite books of the year and I can’t wait to check out the sequel.

Representation: Frankie and like one other character are basically the only white people in the book. The majority of the cast is Black, especially Haitian. I thought it felt generally well handled, but I am also very white.

Content notes: Grief, murder, kidnapping, gun violence, regular violence, the thriller stuff you’d think. No sexual assault.

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Published: June 4th, 2013 by Mulholland Books
Genre: Science Fiction/Thriller
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 368 plus a pretty big chunk of acknowledgments and reader questions and such
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future.

Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens onto other times.

At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of the shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He’s the ultimate hunter, vanishing into another time after each murder, untraceable—until one of his victims survives.

Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the ex-homicide reporter Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on the impossible truth…

Thoughts: I think I was a little disappointed by this. Like a time travelling serial killer is a GREAT premise. But I don’t really think the author did enough with that premise, honestly. The other characters don’t figure out the time travelling thing until right at the end of the book, and they don’t even really see a lot of the weirdness with it, so it’s kind of not that big of a thing.

I also kind of hated the romance in this. One of you is 23 and one of you is in your 50s and I don’t enjoy that, personally. I was sitting there going, “Aww surrogage father-daughter relationship, I like those” and then things got horny and I was like, “I don’t like that”. And I am aware that’s personal preference, but my preference is Not That.

Harper, the serial killer, had a lot of chapters from his POV and he’s kind of boring as fuck. His first few chapters are interesting, but I think he gets way too many chapters and there’s no mystery. He’s just really tedious. And overall, I was just kind of underwhelmed by this.

Content notes: Murder, assault, fairly high levels of gore, sexual violence. There’s also a trans character in the book, and she is not handled particularly well. The interview with the author has the author calling her being trans, “a terrible secret”, which I found distasteful.

So, what have you been reading lately? Have you read any of these? Are you interested in any of them? Tell me about it in the comments!

– Laina

comic book review, Things I've Read Recently

Things I’ve Read Recently (152): Life is Strange

February 19, 2024January 21, 2024 laina1312

I’m just gonna dump all of the remaining Life is Strange comics here. I don’t know if anyone cares about this, but I want to review them. See my thoughts on the first comic here.

Waves (Life is Strange, volume 2) by Emma Vieceli (Goodreads Author), Claudia Leonardi (Illustrator), Andrea Izzo

Published: November 20th, 2019 by Titan Comics
Genre: Comics
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 112 according to goodreads
Part of a series? This collects Life is Strange issues 5-8
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Beloved heroines Max and Chloe return, in the official comic for smash hit game series Life Is Strange! Three years after the events of Life Is Strange: Dust, Max Caulfield has been left stranded on the shores of an unfamiliar reality. Her new world seems too good to be true: Rachel, a girl who suffered a terrible fate in Max’s timeline, is alive and well, and with Chloe.

But as echoes of other timelines ripple through past and future, a mysterious boy named Tristan reveals the harsh reality behind Max’s blissful new world..

Thoughts: The yearning in this one may actually kill me. Things are not right and I am sad XD I did really enjoy this, though. I really like the art and how much it looks like the game – or more, how much it feels like the game. It’s obviously not exactly the same style, but it feels like the same chararacters.

Honestly I don’t have too much to say because I just like this and I have the third one, and I want to read it now.

Strings (Life is Strange volume 3) by Emma Vieceli, Claudia Leonardi, and Andrea Izzo (Colorist)

Published: April 21st, 2020 by Titan Comics
Genre: Comics
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: Goodreads says 110 pages
Part of a series? This collects issues #5-8
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The adventures of Max, Chloe and Rachel from the critically acclaimed, award-winning game Life is Strange continue!

After the mysterious Tristan and his own time-travelling powers turn Max Caulfield’s world upside down, she’s left with no choice but to tell Chloe and Rachel the truth–about who she is, and how she came back into their lives.

But through the transect, another Chloe–Max’s Chloe–remains. How much is Max willing to sacrifice to get back what she’s lost? How far will she go to find her partner in time?

Thoughts: It’s gay and I’m saaaad. So about part for the course for Life is Strange.

No, but I liked this one. Again we’re on the yearning train and it’s breaking my heart just a little and I love it. The yearning train is my favourite train. I’m also really enjoying the new characters introduced in this series. And it’s nice seeing characters I really like a few years older and having grown and healed a little from where we leave them in the game.

Now I have to wait for the next one and it might take until January because it’s about to be Christmas and I’m going to explode XD

Partners In Time: Tracks (Life is Strange, volume 4) by Emma Vieceli, Claudia Leonardi, and Andrea Izzo

Published: April 14th, 2021 by Titan Comics
Genre: Comics
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: Goodreads says 112
Part of a series? This collects Life is Strange… issues 2.1 to 2.4 apparently. Comic books are weird.
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Max, Chloe, and Rachel’s adventures from the hit game Life is Strange continue!

Time-rewinding photographer Max has spent years trapped in an alternate reality. Now, with the universe against her, she must embark on a coast-to-coast road trip of multiple lifetimes!

Thoughts: It’s the YEARNING, y’all. The yearning is getting to me. (Editing Laina: Could you mention the yearning again? I’m not sure people understand you like the yearning enough.) There was a two year time jump in the comics and it’s been two years since main-Max and main-Chloe have been together and they MISS each other and I cannot handle it.

Also I did find it mildly hilarious how much in denial they are that this universe’s Chloe is the same person as main-Chloe in an attempt to fight off ship wars. WE ALL KNOW.

This is incomprehensible if you haven’t read the comics and I don’t care.

YEARNING.

(Editing Laina: There it is.)

Coming Home (Life is Strange, volume 5) by Emma Vieceli, Claudia Leonardi, and Andrea Izzo

Published: November 3rd, 2021 by Titan Comics
Genre: Comics
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: Goodreads says 111
Part of a series? This collects issues #17-20
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The fifth volume of the comic series based on the Bafta Award-winning Square Enix video game Life is Strange, following the strange and wonderful tales of time-travelling Max Caulfield!

Still stranded in another, parallel timeline, Max searches for a way to finally return to her world and to her sorely missed Chloe. On an adventurous road trip, with old and new friends, surprising possibilities open up. Meanwhile, Tristan finds himself in Max’s original reality, and the walls between realities seem to be thinning…

Continuing the award-winning video game Life is Strange, the critically acclaimed comics continue the award-winning video game Life is Strange with new stories centered around these all-time favorite characters, as insightful as they are gripping written by Emma Vieceli and beautifully drawn by Claudia Leonardi.

Thoughts: I forgot to review this one because I was depressed! Winter sucks!

It was fine. It’s a bit of a filler volume, but there is some good yearning. (Editing Laina: Seriously? This review is twenty-eight words long and you still managed to make one of them yearning? I guess at least I was consistent.)

Settling Dust (Life is Strange, volume 6) by by Emma Vieceli, Claudia Leonardi, and Andrea Izzo

Published: June 7th, 2022 by Titan Comics
Genre: Comic
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: Goodreads says 128 but I think there are a couple editions.
Part of a series? This collects “Settling Dust” issues 1-4 which is really Life is Strange issues 21-24. The numbering is messed up because comics, this is the order things go in. It also has an issue with Alex from True Colors.
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The heart-wrenching conclusion to Max and Chloe’s story from the best-selling Life is Strange comic series. In the face of an unimaginable threat, can Max use her power to save everyone she loves – and return home? Following on from the BAFTA award-winning videogame Life is Strange, Max Caulfield believes that she has found a way to cross the timelines and return to the woman she loves, Chloe Price.

In doing so, she will have to leave behind the life she has built with a new Chloe, in a world where Rachel Amber never died. But Max is not alone, as friends and allies old and new – including Tristan, the band the High Seas, and fan-favorite ‘queen of the nerds’, Steph Gingrich – rally to help her in her hour of need!

Review: Reunited and it feels so good!

Seriously, though, I just love Max and Chloe being together and this made me so happy. Overall, I enjoyed this story. I liked the approach they had of saying it wasn’t the one true canon, but simply a version of the characters that might exist. It ends in a really nice way and it’s just nice spending more time with these characters who I really do love and seeing that they’re going to end up okay.

It isn’t perfect, but I enjoyed them a lot, and I’m satisfied with the ending. I’d recommend these if you played the game (or watched it on YouTube, that’s fine too) – if you haven’t, you’re going to be so lost. It is a continuation of that story, not a standalone story.

And that’s all folks!

Did I mention I liked the yearning in this series?

– Laina

adult review, Things I've Read Recently, young adult review

Things I’ve Read Recently (150): Some spooky stuff… and some other stuff

January 22, 2024January 20, 2024 laina1312

I am REALLY behind on these, so you’re probably going to be seeing a lot of these in the near future.

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

Published: October 1st, 2019
Genre: Adult horror
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 381 plus an author’s note
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother’s house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

Thoughts: I think this is the closest I have been yet to being scared by a book. The concepts and imagery in this are so creepy and I loved it. As you may know, I’ve been on a mission to find a book that scared me and this is the closest I have gotten. If you like creepy podcasts, like The Black Tapes or Mabel, I think you would also like this. It definitely gave me the same vibes as listening to one of those.

I think this would be great to check out as an audiobook. A lot of the creepy stuff would be amazing in audio. Also, shout out to the book for having a dog in it but also reassuring us the dog would be okay by page 9. We love to see that. And the other thing I liked was that there was basically no romance. Mouse is mentioned to have just left a relationship but that’s really it. I really liked that.

Really recommending this one!!

Representation: One of Mouse’s neighbours is Latinx and one is Indigenous. One of them also has bipolar disorder.

Content notes: Animal death (like deer, not the dog), hoarding, talk about forced pregnancy, some violence. I didn’t think it was particularly gory but I’m not very sensitive to that stuff.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

Published: May 7th 2019 by Tor
Genre: Science fiction
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 524
Part of a series? This has a companion book, Seasonal Fears, and a defictionalized middle grade companion series.
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.

Thoughts: I’m confused, but I think I liked this? I don’t think I got it, but I enjoy Seanan McGuire’s writing quite a bit. I think maybe this was a touch too sci-fi heavy for me personally but I do understand why other people like it.

I do think this could have been a lot shorter. While I liked the writing, there’s a fair amount of times when not much of anything was going on.

Overall, though, just kind of confused here.

Content notes: Lots of death, including the death of children, self-harm, attempted suicide.

With Malice by Eileen Cook

Published: June 7th, 2016 by Clarion Books
Genre: YA Thriller
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 316 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron wakes up in a hospital room, leg in a cast, stitches in her face and a big blank canvas where the last six weeks should be. She discovers she was involved in a fatal car accident while on a school trip in Italy. A trip she doesn’t even remember taking. She was jetted home by her affluent father in order to receive quality care. Care that includes a lawyer. And a press team. Because maybe the accident…wasn’t an accident.

As the accident makes national headlines, Jill finds herself at the center of a murder investigation. It doesn’t help that the media is portraying her as a sociopath who killed her bubbly best friend, Simone, in a jealous rage. With the evidence mounting against her, there’s only one thing Jill knows for sure: She would never hurt Simone. But what really happened? Questioning who she can trust and what she’s capable of, Jill desperately tries to piece together the events of the past six weeks before she loses her thin hold on her once-perfect life.

Thoughts: This is one of those kind of average thrillers that I wasn’t blown away by, but was fun to read. I enjoy things that play with memory and talking about how fallible memory can be, and it was just a pretty good read.

There was a surprising amount of ableism, like one character using a pretty bad slur, and Jill making a snarky comment about some plants looking like “blind individuals who’d had some kind of seizure disorder had created them”. She’s literally in a rehab hospital at that point. Was that comment really necessary?

But overall, this was just kind of fun. It’s a quick read and I didn’t have to think too much about it, which after Middlegrade I kind of needed XD I also thought the use of media and social media in this was interesting.

Representation: Jill’s roommate at the rehab is Latina and is a paraplegic. Neither are particularly deep – disability is more set dressing for this book than a true theme.

Content notes: Some violence, underage drinking, death.

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

Published: June 7th, 2020 by Dial Press
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 417 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers–and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?

Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on one condition–under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She’s in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful anti-fat beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a free hot air balloon ride. That’s it.

But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes things are more complicated than she anticipated. She’s in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Internet culture wars, sexy suitors, and an opportunity (or two, or five) to find messy, real-life love in the midst of a made-for-TV fairy tale.

Thoughts: I think this is a good book that is really not for me in the end. It’s doing exactly what it set out to do, but it turns out those aren’t really things I personally want to read. This is based heavily on the Bachelor/Bachelorette and I don’t like that show, or most reality TV shows in general. So that element is used well, but it’s not something I’m really interested in.

I also thought the fat representation is very realistic. If you’re fat and on the internet basically at all, you’re going to recognize a lot of the content of this book. You’ve probably experienced it yourself, even. And that particular element, I thought was handled amazingly and something I enjoyed seeing explored and subverted.

However, the amount of focus on Bea’s own issues with her body was not really something I personally wanted as much. It got to be a little too much for me and I found myself struggling to want to pick this up, even though I wanted to finish it. It was just kind of a lot for me. On my own reading journey, I think I’d rather read things that are less about fat people and confidence.

I’m also not going to do a representation section for this review because I don’t think most of it was great. One of the guys on the show is Black and it’s literally mentioned once, when he’s first introduced, which is also when like 12 other guys are introduced so it’s hard to remember who’s who. It doesn’t inform his character at ALL. There is an aroace character, though, and it’s nicely handled. Labels are used, as well, which is nice.

I will say, also, if you’re going to pick this up, find the paperback, not the hardcover, as it seems like there was some major editing to remove any mentions of specific sizes for Bea between editons. Which I prefer.

Well, what do you think of these books? I definitely learned some things about myself and my reading tastes with them. Have you read any? Would you read any of them?

– Laina

adult review, nonfiction review, Things I've Read Recently, young adult review

Things I’ve Read Recently (149): A very random mix of books

October 23, 2023October 6, 2023 laina1312

Confessions by Kanae Minato, translated by Stephen Snyder

Published: Originally published in 2008, this edition is from 2014 by Mulholland Books
Genre: Thriller
Binding: Paperback
Page Count:
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): After calling off her engagement in wake of a tragic revelation, Yuko Moriguchi had nothing to live for except her only child, four-year-old Manami. Now, following an accident on the grounds of the middle school where she teaches, Yuko has given up and tendered her resignation.

But first she has one last lecture to deliver. She tells a story that upends everything her students ever thought they knew about two of their peers, and sets in motion a maniacal plot for revenge.

Narrated in alternating voices, with twists you’ll never see coming, Confessions explores the limits of punishment, despair, and tragic love, culminating in a harrowing confrontation between teacher and student that will place the occupants of an entire school in danger. You’ll never look at a classroom the same way again.

Thoughts: I read this for a book club and I’m not sure how I feel about it. The writing is really good and engrossing, but I think I’m kind of just frustrated by the story. This really isn’t something I would have picked up on my own and I’m not sure how much I got out of it.

I don’t even feel like I have a super solid grasp on whether I liked this or not, lol.

Representation: Do I need… do I need to say everyone in this Japanese book set in Japan is Japanese?

Content notes: So much talk about child death, including multiple murders of children.

A trans character is also misgendered in the first chapter, and there’s a lot of talk about HIV that has aged poorly.

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

Published: August 4th, 2020 by St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Adult Thriller
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 341 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? I don’t think so but I’d read more about this character
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago.

Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Thoughts: Wait, I really liked this. I’ve never read a trial book before and I did not know I would be this into that. This is also only the second book based around a podcast that I’ve read, and I really didn’t expect to like that so much when I deeply disliked the first book I read with a podcast element.

I also actually liked the mixed POVs in this. It alternates between letters, podcast episodes, and third person POV following Rachel, and that worked better than I think it often does, as there’s a reason for the switching.

I did have some minor issues, mostly in how the book talks a lot about how rape happens to women, but never about rape happening to men or nonbinary people (or nonbinary people existing at all). And while classism and nepotism is talked about to some extant, there’s absolutely nothing about sexual violence towards disabled people, queer people, people of colour, etc. If you’re discussing rape culture, you shouldn’t ignore those things.

Overall, though, I enjoyed this a lot and I would like to read more from the author, and maybe more things similar to this. I only took a few notes because I was so engrossed, and one of them is just, “Loving this writing”. And if you like audiobooks, this would probably be a really good audiobook

Content notes: This book is about a rape trial and it is explicit without being overly graphic, in my opinion. It is along the lines of a Law and Order: SVU episode, in my opinion.

Other notes:

This book mentions a town called Crystal Cove, which is also the name of the town in Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated.

Disfigured by Amanda Leduc

Published: February 11th, 2020 by Coach House Books
Genre: Non-Fiction
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 235 including all the references and such
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): In fairy tales, happy endings are the norm—as long as you’re beautiful and walk on two legs. After all, the ogre never gets the princess. And since fairy tales are the foundational myths of our culture, how can a girl with a disability ever think she’ll have a happy ending?

By examining the ways that fairy tales have shaped our expectations of disability, Disfigured will point the way toward a new world where disability is no longer a punishment or impediment but operates, instead, as a way of centering a protagonist and helping them to cement their own place in a story, and from there, the world. Through the book, Leduc ruminates on the connections we make between fairy tale archetypes—the beautiful princess, the glass slipper, the maiden with long hair lost in the tower—and tries to make sense of them through a twenty-first-century disablist lens.

From examinations of disability in tales from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen through to modern interpretations ranging from Disney to Angela Carter, and the fight for disabled representation in today’s media, Leduc connects the fight for disability justice to the growth of modern, magical stories, and argues for increased awareness and acceptance of that which is other—helping us to see and celebrate the magic inherent in different bodies.

Thoughts: This is an interesting read, especially as a disabled person who’s really into fairy tales. I have chronic pain and some mobility issues so I appreciated both the inclusion of things like that, but also how many other things were discussed that challenged me on things I hadn’t thought about before.

I also found this worked well for the way I like to read non-fiction, where I could read like one chapter a day and then sit with that chapter for a while digesting it.

I also think this could be very interesting for Americans to read, as it does discuss disability from a Canadian POV, including travelling very long distances for specialists which I think is a really common thing in Canada. That obviously may be a thing in the US as well, but I don’t think Americans often think of that when they think about Canadian healthcare.

Overall I don’t agree with everything this book does, but it was a good challenging read and interesting and I would definitely recommend it.

Content notes: Ableism, obviously, depression, suicidal thoughts.

Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis

Published: March 3rd, 2020 by Katherine Tegan Books
Genre: YA Contemporary
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 231
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The world is not tame.

Ashley knows this truth deep in her bones, more at home with trees overhead than a roof. So when she goes hiking in the Smokies with her friends for a night of partying, the falling dark and creaking trees are second nature to her. But people are not tame either. And when Ashley catches her boyfriend with another girl, drunken rage sends her running into the night, stopped only by a nasty fall into a ravine.

Morning brings the realization that she’s alone – and far off trail. Lost in undisturbed forest and with nothing but the clothes on her back, Ashley must figure out how to survive despite the red streak of infection creeping up her leg.

Thoughts: I really love wilderness survival books and I also really love Mindy McGinnis’ writing. It is definitely not for everyone – I know some people really don’t like her books. Even with this, Ashley can be fairly unlikeable. She has a touch of “Not Like Other Girls” going on, for sure. But I think she really works through that, and I just really liked it XD

It’s surprisingly short, especially when it’s sitting next to the multiple 500 or 600 page books I happen to have on my to-read pile (why), but the writing is just… so good for me personally. Will you like this? I don’t know! But it’s exactly the kind of thing I like. It makes me want just sit and hold it in my little gremlin hands cackling about how much I like it. It’s dark and bleak and hopeful and all the things I want out of my wilderness survival books. Really pleased with this one.

Content notes: Ashley gets severely injured and has to amputate part of her own foot. It can be quite graphic, almost gory at times.

So what have you all been reading lately? Any good spooky books?

– Laina

adult review, Things I've Read Recently, young adult review

Things I’ve Read Recently (148): I actually liked most of these so that’s always fun

October 9, 2023October 9, 2023 laina1312

They’re mini-reviews. Mostly. You know the drill and I’m tired of this intro!

What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen

Published: May 1st, 2012 by Simon Pulse
Genre: YA Thriller
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 237 plus acknowledgements and ads for other books
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Sara and her mom have a plan to finally escape Sara’s abusive father. But when her mom doesn’t show up as expected, Sara’s terrified. Her father says that she’s on a business trip, but Sara knows he’s lying. Her mom is missing—and her dad had something to do with it.

With each day that passes, Sara’s more on edge. Her friends know that something’s wrong, but she won’t endanger anyone else with her secret. And with her dad growing increasingly violent, Sara must figure out what happened to her mom before it’s too late…for them both.

Thoughts: This was okay. I have a few qualms, especially about the ending, but it wasn’t bad. It does feel like it’s pulling its punches, like it wants to tell a domestic abuse story without actually showing any abuse, and obviously that can work, but I don’t think it does so much here. It lacks impact at time.

The heavy focus on romance really doesn’t help with that. And the ending was a little silly for me, and there was another secretly-gay dead character in this one, which was the second one I read the day I read this. Not a trend I enjoyed. Also, I wish there had been helplines or resources about abuse/suicide of some sort in the back of this book. It sort of doesn’t feel like abuse is being taken very seriously when the book ends and all there is are ads for VC Andrews books.

But I did like the writing and I enjoyed Sara as a character. I would be curious about other books from the author for sure, especially more modern ones. It wasn’t bad.

Representation: Sara’s dead brother was gay and his secret boyfriend is, too. That’s it.

Content notes: Domestic abuse, suicide, kidnapping, gun violence.

Swipe Right for Murder by Derek Milman

Published: August 6th, 2019 by jimmy patterson
Genre: YA Thriller
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 353 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Finding himself alone in a posh New York City hotel room for the night, Aidan does what any red-blooded seventeen-year-old would do – he tries to hook up with someone new. But that lapse in judgement leads to him waking up next to a dead guy, which sparks an epic case of mistaken identity that puts Aidan on the run from everyone—faceless federal agents, his eccentric family, and, naturally, a cyber-terrorist group who will stop at nothing to find him.

He soon realizes the only way to stop the chase is to deliver the object everyone wants, before he gets caught or killed. But for Aidan, the hardest part is knowing who he can trust not to betray him – including himself.

Thoughts: So like what if your Grindr hookup turned into a whole murder and espionage/terrorism thing? What would you do? It’s okay if you don’t have an answer because Aidan doesn’t either. He has basically no idea what he’s doing the whole book and we love him very much.

No, but for real, this was awesome. It’s a really good spy-type thriller and that’s coming from someone who’s not usually into spy stuff if it’s not middle grade. It’s just, like, aggressively well written. I read like 70 pages of this and looked up and was like, “Wait, didn’t I just start reading?” It’s super fast paced and exciting.

And this is just such good writing for teens. Milman really gets how to do that. There was one line in particular where someone mentions voice memos and Aidan’s just like, “Okay, but who checks their voice memos?” And I cackled. There’s great humour at times, especially when the book knows it shouldn’t take itself too seriously, and overall, I really liked this.

Representation: Aidan is gay and the book is a very queer book. The focus of the cyber-terrorist group itself is actually being anti-queer hatred. It’s baked into the plot and I really liked that.

Content notes: Suicide, terrorism, bombings, drugs, alcohol, a surprising amount of gore/injuries. Aidan was also in a relationship with a much older man when he was like 15. Imo, the book handles it well in pointing out no, that was hella not okay for that guy to do.

What I Like About Me by Jenna Guillaume

Published: Originally published in 2019 in Australia, this edition was released April 1st, 2020 by Peachtree Publishing
Genre: Contemporary YA
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 281 plus acknowledgements and an author interview
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The last thing sixteen-year-old Maisie Martin thought she’d be doing over vacation is entering a beauty pageant. Not when she’s spent most of her life hiding her body from everyone. Not when her Dad is AWOL and her gorgeous older sister has returned to rock Maisie’s already shaky confidence. And especially not when her best friend starts flirting with the boy she’s always loved. But Maisie’s got something to prove.

As she writes down all the ways this vacation is going from bad to worse in her school-assignment journal, what starts as a homework torture-device might just end up being an account of how Maisie didn’t let anything, or anyone, hold her back.

Thoughts: I liked this! It’s very cute, and I don’t read a lot of Australian fiction, so that was really interesting. And it’s told in diary entries, so that format is always fun. This isn’t doing anything super unique for fat-positive YA, but it’s very cute and it’s still nice to have more of those.

I also really appreciated the inclusion of an older, also fat character, especially one who is fatter than Maisie. It makes Maisie’s experience as a fat person much less lonely, and gives her someone to talk to who understands what she feels, and can talk from experience. That is something I’ve found to be somewhat unique in this genre.

Not too much to say about this one – it was just cute and a fun read. I would recommend it if you like YA contemporary books.

Representation: Maisie is fat. Her older sister is a lesbian, and her girlfriend is fat.

Content notes: Maisie deals with some fatmisia, and also some negative body talk/thoughts, but it’s fairly mild.

Drowned Country by Emily Tesh

Published: August 18th, 2020 by Tor.com
Genre: Adult Fantasy Novella
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 153 plus acknowledgements and such
Part of a series? This is the second book in the Greenhollow Duology.
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): This second volume of the Greenhollow duology once again invites readers to lose themselves in the story of Henry and Tobias, and the magic of a myth they’ve always known.

Even the Wild Man of Greenhollow can’t ignore a summons from his mother, when that mother is the indomitable Adela Silver, practical folklorist. Henry Silver does not relish what he’ll find in the grimy seaside town of Rothport, where once the ancient wood extended before it was drowned beneath the sea—a missing girl, a monster on the loose, or, worst of all, Tobias Finch, who loves him.

Thoughts: I really liked this! I really don’t read a lot of fantasy like this, and I tend to find it a bit daunting, but as a novella it works well. And the language is very approachable. It’s easy to read, but it also has this really lovely dreamy, magical sort of vibe. Certain descriptions are just so unnerving and great.

This is really making me realize I should read more novellas! Would definitely recommend this duology.

Representation: Sliver and Finch are both queer men.

So that was a good batch!

What have you all been reading? Also, for my fellow Canadians, happy Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating!

– Laina

adult review, anthology review, Things I've Read Recently, young adult review

Things I’ve Read Recently (147): Some experimental reads

September 18, 2023July 23, 2023 laina1312

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq

Published: September 25th, 2018 by Penguin Books Canada
Genre: Magical Realism?
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 189 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Fact can be as strange as fiction. It can also be as dark, as violent, as rapturous. In the end, there may be no difference between them.

A girl grows up in Nunavut in the 1970s. She knows joy, and friendship, and parents’ love. She knows boredom, and listlessness, and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday world, and the raw, amoral power of the ice and sky, the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol, and violence at the hands of those she should be able to trust. She sees the spirits that surround her, and the immense power that dwarfs all of us.

When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this.

Thoughts: Oh boy, I did not like this at all. I don’t think this was bad, it was just deeply not for me. As soon as I finished this, I was like, “I bet Kayla from BooksandLala would like this” and sure enough, she gave it five stars, lol. This is going on that same mental stack of book as Sorrowland and A Memoir of My Brief Body, in that they’re good books that are absolutely not my thing, but I know other people will enjoy and I’m happy for them.

Would recommend this if you like really weird books with a lot of symbolism, but double check the content notes before going in because it’s quite an intense book. Just not my cup of tea. Let’s move on.

Representation: The main character is Inuk.

Content notes: Childhood sexual abuse, other sexual assult, child death, substance abuse.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Published: April 2nd, 2019 by Harper Voyager
Genre: Adult Science Fiction Horror
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 411 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane.

Instead, she got Em.

Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too…

As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head.

But how come she can’t shake the feeling she’s being followed?

Thoughts: Now this was right up my alley. Are you shocked? I’m kind of shocked. This book had me eating dinner three hours late yesterday because my dinner alarm went off and I went, “Okay, cool,” and kept reading for two and a half more hours. I basically read this in one sitting, and I’ve already recommended it to someone I know in real life.

I think this might be the closest thing to scared by a book that I’ve gotten. Caves are creepy. Caves are just creepy, it’s a fact. This book is creepy, and it was a really good time. It reminded me a lot of SOMA. This mostly isn’t set underwater like SOMA but it has the same kind of isolated vibes and futurisitic vibes, and a lot of the focus is on Gyre’s cave suit. Honestly with a fairly heavy focus on whenever she has to eat and replace her battery, it kind of has survival horror video game vibes, so if you like horror video games, you might also like this a lot.

It’s very approachable sci-fi, though, for someone like me who isn’t a huge fan of the genre. There’s enough world building that I could easily understand the setting, but not so much that it lost me.

Big recommend on this and I want to read more horror sci-fi now.

Representation: Gyre and Em are both queer. Em seems to be Black and Gyre is described as having light brown skin.

Content notes: CAVES.

There’s a lot of focus on bodily functions, particularly in a medical nature, like Gyre has a g-tube implanted for the mission. Also, amputation, death, mild gore. Some people on Goodreads thought it was pretty graphic – I am not sensitive to gore, apparently.

Take the Mic edited by Bethany C. Morrow

Published: October 1st, 2019 by Arthur A. Levine Books
Genre: Contemporary YA Anthology
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 245 plus acknowledgements and author bios
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): A young adult anthology featuring fictional stories of everyday resistance.

You might be the kind of person who stands up to online trolls.

Or who marches to protest injustice.

Perhaps you are #DisabledAndCute and dancing around your living room, alive and proud.

Or perhaps you are the trans mentor that you wish you had when you were younger.

Maybe you call out false allies, or stand up to loved ones.

Maybe you speak your truth and drop the mic, or maybe you take it with you when you leave.

This anthology features fictional stories–in poems, prose, and art–that reflect a slice of the varied and limitless ways that readers like you resist every day.

Thoughts: I didn’t love this, but this is one of those books that really isn’t super for me. I could see this being a really good book to have in a classroom. I think kids around like seventh and eighth grade would enjoy this. It also has very large print, so it’s a much quicker read than you’d think. I just found it could be a little over simpliflied at times.

When I reviewed… I think Hungry Hearts? When I reviewed that, I wrote a bit about each story and people liked that, so I’m going to do that again.

Grace by Darcie Little Badger: This was fine. It’s about a girl whose new friend tries to force a kiss on her and what happens when she says no.

Grace, the main character, is Lipan Apache and part of the story is her mom remarrying a woman.

Shift by Jason Reynolds: This is a poem. I’m not a poetry person and this is short, not much to say about it.

The Helpers by L. D. Lewis: This is probably my favourite story in the book. Following an incident of police brutality, there is a terrorist attack in Allie’s city as she’s staying with her sister Sasha. Sasha is a paramedic and Allie uses her supplies to do her best to try and help people injured by the explosion. It’s really lovely and the writing is beautiful. I liked the message in it.

Content note for police brutality, explosions, injury, racism. I assumed Allie and Sasha were Black but I’m not sure.

Fighting the Blues by Connie Sun: This was a comic. It’s only two pages. It’s cute but there’s not a lot to it.

Are You the Good Kind of Muslim? by Samura Ahmed: This is I believe a free verse poem? Maybe? It’s like a short story told in verse. It’s really good.

The narrator is obviously Muslim.

Aurora Rising by Yamile Saied Méndez: This was fine? A girl hangs out with her friends and realizes they’re racist, especially her best friend, and she’s not okay with that.

Content notes for a lot MAGA talk from her friend’s family, and a lot of microaggressions. The MC’s mom is from Argentina. She also has a friend who has a gay brother. This is the first story queer people are mentioned in.

Ruth by Laura Silverman: The writing in this is really cute. It’s about a book blogger who deals with some pretty antisemetic abuse online and how she decides to handle that. I like Laura Silverman’s writing, and this is cute. It also shows some concrete ways for the MC’s friends to support her, which is nice. It’s not very deep – this would honestly work well as a full length book – but it’s good.

Content note for antisemetic harassment. Ruth is, obviously, Jewish.

I Am the Revolution by Keah Brown: This is another poem and I love the energy of it. This is also the part of the book that uses #DisabledAndCute and is the only thing in the book that mentions disability.

As You Were by Bethany C. Morrow: The content warnings of this one are also going to be a full plot summary so skip it if you want, but this one is absolutely brutal. It is absolutely the perfect length, effective as hell, and wow. This really makes me want to read more by this author.

Content note: The main character, a Black girl, is on her way home from marching band practice with her white crush. They are pulled over by the police and she’s pulled from the car and searched. It turns out this was the crush’s way of asking her to prom.

Yeah.

The Real Ones by Sofia Quintero: While I agree with the messages in the book, the writing just is not my cup of tea. It’s just not my vibe, honestly.

The main character, Cami, is Latina. Her aunt (who I think she’s living with? Or is just very close to) is a lesbian. This is the second story queer people are mentioned in.

Parker Outside the Box by Ray Stoeve: I liked this one! It’s cute. It’s about Parker, a nonbinary teen mentoring a trans kid while also deciding what type of things they want to stand up for in their own life. It’s cute, I liked that it had a nonbinary MC, and I liked Parker’s relationship with their stepsiblings and stepfather, who they are very close it.

Parker is nonbinary and mentors a little trans boy. Their step-father and step-brothers are Black.

Untitled by Jason Reynolds: This is another short poem. It’s fine, I’m still not a poetry person.

Homecoming by Darcie Little Badger: This follows Grace from the first story as she settles into a new school in Texas which has semi-recently changed their school mascot from a very racist caricature. I get the idea of how these two stories bookend with the same MC, but I don’t think it did very much as a bookending story? This could have been any character.

Overall, I just didn’t love this. I can see the audience for this, but it just felt a bit shallow a lot of the time, and kind of repetative. I also think it lacks in disabled and trans voices. The lack of trans women, especially trans women of colour, is an issue to me.

Also I think the idea how they formatted texting to look like actual text messages is a cool idea, but white text on a light blue background is awful to read. This is not a great book if you have eye strain issues, honestly, in my opinion.

And I’m going to wrap the post here because it’ll get super long otherwise! Just three books in this one. What do you all think of them?

– Laina

middle grade review, Things I've Read Recently

Things I’ve Read Recently (146): A whole bunch of middle grade that I mostly liked!

September 4, 2023July 23, 2023 laina1312

Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry

Published: March 14th, 2017 by Feiwel & Friends
Genre: Contemporary MG
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 326 plus an author’s note and acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): A girl with Tourette syndrome starts at a new school and tries to hide her quirks in this debut middle-grade novel in verse.

Astronomy-loving Calliope June has Tourette syndrome, so she sometimes makes faces or noises that she doesn’t mean to make. When she and her mother move yet again, she tries to hide her TS. But it isn’t long before the kids at her new school realize she’s different. Only Calli’s neighbor, who is also the popular student body president, sees her as she truly is—an interesting person and a good friend. But is he brave enough to take their friendship public?

As Calli navigates school, she must also face her mother’s new relationship and the fact that she might be moving, again, just as she starts to make friends and finally accept her differences.

Thoughts: I really liked this. It’s really, really sweet and I appreciated how it looked at stigma and how that can affect kids. It’s also written mostly in verse, which can really appeal to more selective readers.

I also super appreciated the author’s note at the end talking about how a lot of the book was based on the author’s experience with stigma and how hiding her own Tourette’s syndrome made things harder for her, and how that informed the book. I think that could really speak to a lot of kids with invisible disabilities.

Overall it’s really sweet and I’d highly recommend it.

Representation: Calli has Tourette’s syndrome, along with comorbid trichotillomania, obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety issues. Her new friend, Jinsong, who is the other POV character, is Chinese.

Content notes: Ableism, mentions of racism, bullying.

My Life As a Potato by Arianne Costner

Published: March 24th, 2020 by Random House Books for Young Readers
Genre: Contemporary MG
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 257 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Ben Hardy believes he’s cursed by potatoes. And now he’s moved to Idaho, where the school’s mascot is Steve the Spud! Yeah, this cannot be good.

After accidentally causing the mascot to sprain an ankle, Ben is sentenced to Spud duty for the final basketball games of the year. But if the other kids know he’s the Spud, his plans for popularity are likely to be a big dud! Ben doesn’t want to let the team down, so he lies to his friends to keep it a secret. No one will know it’s him under the potato suit . . . right?

Thoughts: I’ve been procrastinating writing my thoughts about this book for like a week because my thoughts are so mixed. The thing is, I thought this was fun! I thought the writing style was really approachable for more particular readers, because it’s very easy to read (and also has a pretty large font) and it has a lot of fun pictures.

But this book is dragged down by constant Harry Potter references. In 2020, that just makes me really uncomfortable. And that being combined with the book being very, very heteronormative doesn’t sit right with me. I am perfectly okay with middle grade having romance, but I don’t think every single kid in a 7th grade class needs to be straight, or to be dating. Like not a single kid even expressed that, hey, they aren’t actually ready to date.

I’m bummed, less move one.

Representation: Ben’s best friend is Latina.

The Year I Flew Away by Marie Arnold

Published: February 1st, 2021 by Versify
Genre: Middle grade magical realism/fantasy
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 245 plus an ad for other books by the publisher
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): It’s 1985 and ten-year-old Gabrielle is excited to be moving from Haiti to America. Unfortunately, her parents won’t be able to join her yet and she’ll be living in a place called Brooklyn, New York, with relatives she has never met. She promises her parents that she will behave, but life proves to be difficult in the United States, from learning the language to always feeling like she doesn’t fit in to being bullied.

So when a witch offers her a chance to speak English perfectly and be “American,” she makes the deal. But soon she realizes how much she has given up by trying to fit in and, along with her two new friends (one of them a talking rat), takes on the witch in an epic battle to try to reverse the spell.

Thoughts: This was good! I didn’t realize how much of the fantasy elements there would be, but it’s fun. I think I’m a little less into middle grade fantasy than I used to be, but that’s not really about the book. There’s a lot of talk about self-acceptance and being proud of who you are and it was great.

If you are a middle grade fantasy fan, I’d recommend this one.

Representation: Gabrielle is Haitian and Black, as is her family, obviously. Her best friend is also Mexican.

Content notes: Mild, mild violence, like standard cartoon variety, spanking. Gabrielle and her family also experience some racism.

Drew Leclair Gets a Clue by Katryn Bury

Published: March 1st, 2022 by Clarion Books
Genre: MG Mystery
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 274 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? There is a sequel coming out spring 2023!
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Drew Leclair knows what it takes to be a great detective. She’s pored over the cases solved by her hero, criminal profiler Lita Miyamoto. She tracked down the graffiti artist at school, and even solved the mystery of her neighbor’s missing rabbit. But when her mother runs off to Hawaii with the school guidance counselor, Drew is shocked. How did she miss all of the clues?

Drew is determined to keep her family life a secret, even from her best friend. But when a cyberbully starts posting embarrassing rumors about other students at school, it’s only a matter of time before Drew’s secret is out.

Armed with her notebooks full of observations about her classmates, Drew knows what she has to do: profile all of the bullies in her grade to find the culprit. But being a detective is more complicated when the suspects can be your friends. Will Drew crack the case if it means losing the people she cares about most?

Thoughts: Aww, I really liked this. It’s really sweet and fun. If you liked Nancy Drew as a kid and you like middle grade mysteries, I’d definitely recommend this one. I can for sure see the Harriet the Spy vibes, but I think this does some things that I like a lot more than that story in how it handles Drew’s interests. I really like how while she is encouraged to think about how profiling people makes them feel, especially when those people are your friends, things like just keeping a journal/notebook isn’t inherantly a thing that should be shamed which always bugged me about Harriet the Spy, or at least the movie.

I also appreciated a lot of the messaging in the book, like how other kids did actually want Drew to figure out who was doing the bullying because they couldn’t go to the authorities at the school due to the school’s zero tolerance policies causing victims to be punished as harshly as bullies, or how Drew’s friends talked about how bullying was impacted by racism for them, and Drew making a conscious decision to not make that moment about her and staying quiet and just listening.

Also I love her dad so much. He’s so good and their relationship is so sweet. Highly recommend this one.

Representation: Drew is questioning her identity. She considers asexuality as a possibility, but mostly at this time she’s just not interested in romance or anything related, especially not anything physical like kissing. She thinks if she does have interest in that kind of in the middle, she’ll be, quote, “somewhere in the middle”, but she just doesn’t know yet and that’s okay.

Also, this isn’t canon but Drew reads autistic-coded to me. Oh, and she has pretty severe asthmas and IBS.

There is also another queer kid at her school and it’s very normalized for her and in the book, which I liked a lot. Her friends, as mentioned above, are Indian and Black and that is mentioned in conversations about bullying and also how they’re treated by teachers, even.

Content notes: Bullying, divorce, parental abandonment. Drew’s guidance counselor also gets in a relationship with her mother while he’s counseling her and no one really knows that until the end of the book. It’s handled well at that point, but just as a warning.

– Laina

adult review, graphic novel review, middle grade review, Things I've Read Recently, young adult review

Things I’ve Read Recently (145): Apparently I read 3 yellow books in a row?

August 21, 2023July 16, 2023 laina1312

The Sleepover by Michael Regina

Published: November 9th, 2021 by Razorbill
Genre: MG Graphic Novel
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 221 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): When the Russo family returns home from vacation to discover their nanny, Ruby, has unexpectedly passed away, Matthew takes the news the hardest. After weeks of reeling, his three best friends decide to cheer him up with a night of junk food, prank calls, and scary movies. But their plans for a sleepover are jeopardized when Matt’s single mother – unable to take any more time off of work – is forced to hire a new nanny on the fly to watch over Matt and his younger sister, Judy.

Miss Swan, however, is all too happy to have the boys over. And although she seems like the perfect babysitter, letting the kids eat whatever they want and mostly leaving them alone, there’s something about her that Matt doesn’t trust. He thinks she may actually be the witch from local legend – the one who torments children into the night and then eats them. Is he just having a hard time dealing with Ruby’s replacement, as his friends suspect? Has he watched one too many scary movies, as his mom fears? Or are he and his horror-buff friends in for the fright of their lives as they come face-to-face with a real monster?

Thoughts: There’s a lot going for this one. I think it being quite spooky was a lot of fun, and I think kids who like scary things would really like this.

However, I have a lot of concerns about how the nanny, Ruby, is represented. She is the only Black character in the book, maybe the only POC character at all, and her entire character is that she takes care of white children. They obviously care about her a lot, and the note at the back of the book says she was based on a person in the author’s life, but it comes across as using some really problematic tropes.

I also found the faces a little generic. I really struggled telling the three boys apart at times. The horror aspects were drawn really well, though.

Other people will think I’m overreacting and be fine with all this, but I can’t get past that.

Representation: I think Mario and Teo might be intended to be Latino? But it’s hard to tell.

Content notes: Mild violence, a bit of blood, intense situations.

Hide by Kiersten White

Published: May 24th, 2024
Genre: Adult Horror
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 236 plus acknowledgements
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): The challenge: spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don’t get caught.

The prize: enough money to change everything.

Even though everyone is desperate to win–to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts–Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she’s an expert at that.

It’s the reason she’s alive, and her family isn’t.

But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.

Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run.

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Thoughts: This was the June pick for the Literally Dead Book Club and I once again got it too late to participate, but I keep trying! And I had it, so obviously I read it.

It was okay?

The thing is, I’ve listened to a podcast that did something very similiar to this. So even though I liked the concept (I love theme parks), it wasn’t particularly unique for me. And I don’t think it did anything super interesting with the concept. I didn’t find it scary personally and I know that’s very subjective but in my quest to be scared by a book, this one didn’t get me any further towards that goal.

Honestly my favourite part of this book was probably the map at the beginning. That was cool. I’m just probably not going to think about this one much once I give it back to my library.

Representation: Mack is queer, as is one of her co-competitors.

Content notes: There’s some mild gore, some violence, a suicide, and mentions of child death.

The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly by Rebecca K. S. Ansari

Published: March 5th, 2019 by Walden Pond Press
Genre: MG Fantasy
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 389 plus acknowledgements and a book excerpt
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Charlie O’Reilly is an only child. Which is why it makes everyone uncomfortable when he talks about his brother. Liam, his eight-year-old kid brother, who, up until a year ago, slept in the bunk above Charlie, took pride in being as annoying as possible, and was the only person who could make Charlie laugh until it hurt.

Then came the morning when the bunk, and Liam, disappeared forever. No one even remembers him—not Charlie’s mother, who has been lost in her own troubles; and not Charlie’s father, who is gone frequently on business trips. The only person who believes Charlie is his best friend, Ana—even if she has no memory of Liam, she is as determined as Charlie is to figure out what happened to him.

The search seems hopeless—until Charlie receives a mysterious note, written in Liam’s handwriting. The note leads Charlie and Ana to make some profound discoveries about a magic they didn’t know existed, and they soon realize that if they’re going to save Liam, they may need to risk being forgotten themselves, forever.

Thoughts: This was pretty good. The tone and vibe of it reminded me of Nightbooks, which I also liked. The concept was pretty unique, and I liked the setting a lot. The use of Irish history was also very neat, and I appreciated Charlie and Ana’s friendship quite a bit. There’s absolutely no romance between them even hinted at and it’s nice to see that.

I did find there to be one particularly nasty comment about their baseball coach’s weight. Why do we need to know his exact weight? Why does Charlie know his baseball coach’s exact weight? Why do we need a comment about how unathletic he is and how much he sweats? It’s just nasty.

I also have some concerns about the representation of depression in Charlie’s mother, and how it’s magically cured.

Overall, though, I liked it.

Representation: There’s a minor gay character.

Content notes: Child death, some fairly intense injuries.

The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George

Published: March 15th, 2012 by Viking Children’s
Genre: Contemporary YA
Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 260 plus some extras
Part of a series? Nope
Got via: The library

Summary (from goodreads): Jesse cuts her own hair with a Swiss Army knife. She wears big green fisherman’s boots. She’s the founding (and only) member of NOLAW, the National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos. Emily wears sweaters with faux pearl buttons. She’s vice president of the student council. She has a boyfriend.

These two girls have nothing in common, except the passionate “private time” they share every Tuesday afternoon. Jesse wishes their relationship could be out in the open, but Emily feels she has too much to lose. When they find themselves on opposite sides of a heated school conflict, they each have to decide what’s more important: what you believe in, or the one you love?

Thoughts: This is a book that came out in 2012 and it shows. I’ve apparently had this on my to-read list since 2011, and I think if I had read it in 2012 or 2013 when I was actually still a teenager, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. As it is, this is a book that spends a lot of time talking about social justice and protesting and stuff, and is also bogged down with things like long passages about how fat bodies are an epidemic and describing characters as “a little Asperger’s-y”. Which is. Messed up. The contrast is wild. Jesse acts like she’s incredibly socially aware, but also can’t understand why a library would have an accessible bathroom on the third floor. Because elevators exist, Jesse.

My favourite character, honestly, was Esther, who isn’t even mentioned in the summary but is a POV character for like two chapters. Jesse annoyed me so much. She’s so self-righteous, and neither her nor Emily has almost any growth.

Representation: Jesse is a lesbian and Emily is bi and I don’t think the bi rep is handled well at ALL.

Content notes: I honestly don’t remember.

…wow this post is kind of a bummer. Uh. How about those Mets?

– Laina

Category: Things I’ve Read Recently

Things I’ve Read Recently (155): Post-Reading Slump Reviews

Things I’ve Read Recently (154): Some Mixed Emotions Here

Things I’ve Read Recently (153): This post has been in my drafts so long I forgot what was in it

Things I’ve Read Recently (152): Life is Strange

Things I’ve Read Recently (150): Some spooky stuff… and some other stuff

Things I’ve Read Recently (149): A very random mix of books

Things I’ve Read Recently (148): I actually liked most of these so that’s always fun

Things I’ve Read Recently (147): Some experimental reads

Things I’ve Read Recently (146): A whole bunch of middle grade that I mostly liked!

Things I’ve Read Recently (145): Apparently I read 3 yellow books in a row?