Tag: contemporary

Reviews

ARC Review: Mooncakes – Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu

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Release Date: 15th October 2019
Publisher: Lion Forge
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mooncakes is a beautiful little queer graphic novel that follows a young witch, Nova, and her relationship with her childhood crush, Tam, a werewolf. The two deal with their feelings for each other and what it means for their friendship, whilst also battling demons and understanding the magic and witchcraft that they possess.

It was incredibly cute and I loved getting to meet these characters whilst having a glimpse into their lives. They deeply care about one another and have a strong sense of duty to one another as well as family. Family takes an important role in the comic which was an aspect I especially loved as I feel stories, particularly fantasy ones, often separate themselves from family and don’t address the important role that a family plays in someone’s life.

The story itself was lovely and intriguing and everything you would want, but another strong aspect that cannot be ignored is the beautiful illustrations and art that runs throughout the graphic novel. The style is really soft and detailed and it matches the story perfectly. Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu’s work compliment each other and match very well.

Overall, this was a lovely graphic novel to read and I’m glad that netgalley gave me the opportunity to see it in it’s working stages with the arc. I love the storyline, the art, the representation, the characters, and so much more. I definitely recommend picking it up.

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ARC Review: All the Better Part of Me – Molly Ringle

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Thank you NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for providing me with a copy for review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release Date: 3 September 2019

All the Better Part of Me is a new adult contemporary about a young actor who is starting to make a name for himself and navigating his newfound feelings for his childhood best friend.

I liked the story of this, especially for the representation of bisexuality. It felt very real for him to not understand his feelings and to question himself without taking anything away from what it means to be bisexual. He wasn’t afraid of being bisexual, something that I think is important to show, but that didn’t mean he automatically had all the answers, which I think it is also important to show.

I was initially intrigued to read this because it was classed as new adult and I thought it would be nice to read about characters close to my age, but I don’t think the new adult genre is for me. The characters were still a few years older than me and were doing a lot more (like living in different countries and dealing with pregnancy), and the new adult genre is also quite nsfw.

It was a good book that I think people are really going to enjoy.

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ARC Review: Proud – Juno Dawson and various

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Thank you NetGalley and Little Tiger Group for granting my wish and providing me with a copy for review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release Date: 07 March 2019

I was really excited to read this compilation of LGBT+ short stories and I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to read and review it before its release in March. It features a range of LGBT+ writers and artists who have come together to tell different stories about a range of people across a range of genres.

All the stories were very different and I enjoyed reading every one of them. I haven’t really read a compilation of short stories like this for a long time so it was a nice change, especially to read so many stories featuring so many LGBT+ characters. I read a lot of books with queer characters as I am queer myself, but I tend to stick to the ones focusing on sexuality rather than gender as this is what I relate to so it was nice to read about the other parts of my community too in these short stories.

I think it made a good attempt of trying to encompass the diversity of the LGBT+ community, especially as many books don’t feature these characters and identities at all, but I wish it had been a little more diverse. For instance, the + identities were still not really represented in this book.

Overall, it was a brilliant book and I really appreciate what it is doing. There were stories focusing on coming out, discrimination, first love, fantasy, and much more. It is a great book and I can’t wait to read and see more work from the authors and artists featured in this book, many of which I hadn’t heard of before.

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ARC Review: Devoted – Jennifer Mathieu

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Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Children’s Group for providing me with a copy for review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release date: 10th January 2019

The protagonist, Rachel, lives in an extremely religious community that controls every aspect of her life from where to goes and what she can do to what her aspirations should be and how she should think. It is a cult. She feels incredibly trapped by all these rules and what is expected of her, especially as a woman, and begins to become interested in a girl who escaped from the cult a few years ago and has recently moved back to the area.

I really liked this book and how it made me think about many different things. It is a very feminist novel that does a great job of handling heavy topics with delicacy and making them accessible to a wide audience. The characters give so many different points of view of topics throughout the novel and it shows how many things are not black and white. Even Lauren and Rachel, the two main characters in the novel who grew up in the cult and have a lot in common, do not always agree and occasionally argue about their conflicting opinions and feelings. It is a very raw novel.

Though I’m not religious myself, I’m always unsure about reading books about cult-like depictions of religious groups as these groups are extreme and few in actuality and I think it’s important to demonstrate the positive aspects of religion as well as the negative. I think this book does an excellent job of showing both sides of this coin. Rachel’s family and community highlights the negativity and problems with extremism, but the Treats family and Rachel herself show how religion can be positive and helpful. They show that religion cannot be blamed for why her family behaves in this way because most religious people are not like this. It is a problem with them, not with being religious.

Overall, I really liked this novel and the characters that Rachel meets along her journey. I’m so glad that I got the opportunity to review it as I’m not sure it is one that I would have found or otherwise thought to pick up without it.

I really feel like I need to give A Wrinkle in Time another chance after reading this too as the novel is so prominent in the story and important to the main character.

ARC Review: Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) – L. C. Rosen (Out Oct 30th!)
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ARC Review: Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) – L. C. Rosen (Out Oct 30th!)

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Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing me with a copy for review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genres: Young Adult, Humour, LGBT+
Release Date: 30 October 2018

Jack Rothman is an out gay high school student who begins writing an advice column to help his friend who is running a publication for the school. He uses this column to give advice on, and to educate people about, sex, but begins to question himself when he starts to receive anonymous letters from a stalker who disapproves of Jack’s lifestyle and openness.

I was first drawn to Jack of Hearts because it gave me a similar vibe to The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, something that I have been searching for since I read it last year. It was definitely a good novel and the humour and internal monologues especially reminded me of Gentleman’s Guide. The actual similarities between the two novels are small, but both are brilliant in their own regard and can definitely be appreciated for what they add to YA and queer literature.

One of the things that I like most about Jack of Hearts is how open and educational it is about topics that are often taboo, especially for queer individuals. It didn’t shy away from being honest which is something that young people need, especially young queer people who will find it hard to experience and obtain this anywhere else.

ARC Review: What If It’s Us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli (Out Oct 9th!)
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ARC Review: What If It’s Us by Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli (Out Oct 9th!)

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Thank you NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for providing me with a copy for review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, LGBT+
Release Date: 09 October 2018 (UK: 18 October 2018)
Find it on Goodreads

It’s actually been almost a week since I read this book and I’ve been putting off writing the review ever since because it was so wonderful that I don’t know how my words could do it justice. I’m still in complete shock that I was lucky enough to even receive an ARC of it as it was one of my most highly anticipated releases of the year and has easily become one of my favourite reads of the year.

This collaborative book between Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli follows two young boys in New York, Arthur and Ben, who meet in a post office one day when Arthur is running errands for his internship and Ben is attempting to mail back his ex-boyfriend’s belongings. The pair feel a connection and are awash with luck, as though fate is pulling them together, but they also face many mishaps along the way, as though the universe is also trying to pull them apart.

It was such a wonderful and easy novel to read that I read it in just a few sittings across a single day. The concept is a really interesting take on the meet-cute trope that I haven’t seen before and was great to read. It made the story unique and revived the trope by adding a layer of tension and confusion to their meeting. It was one of the many aspects about it that demonstrated the perfect blend Adam Silvera’s and Becky Albertalli’s writing styles.

The characters themselves were great and felt so realistic. It was easy to understand many of their actions whilst also becoming frustrated and needing to keep reading to find out what’s going to happen. I loved how the novel switched perspectives between Ben and Arthur so that you could really understand each character and see the story from their point of view, as well as how each author had wrote from the perspective of a different character, making them feel very separate and unbiased. Each author managed to brilliantly encompass the other author’s writing with their own so that the novel flowed seamlessly and the characters remained consistent when they were being wrote about and included in the chapters from the other characters perspective.

One of my favourite things about this novel was the ending. I found as I was reading it that it was impossible to predict what was going to happen, especially when you consider the typical endings found in each authors respective books, and I loved the way it eventually rounded up. It was fitting and true to both authors.

Overall, I loved reading this and can definitely see it being a novel that I would re-read. I highly recommend it and can’t wait for it to be released so that I can see everyone’s thoughts and reactions to this beautiful story.

ARC Review: Aphra’s Child – Lesley Glaister (Oct 12th)
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ARC Review: Aphra’s Child – Lesley Glaister (Oct 12th)

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Thank you NetGalley and Stirling Publishing for providing me with a copy for review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Release Date: 12th October 2018
Find it on Goodreads.

Aphra’s Child follows the protagonist, Tula, whose world is threatened when her mother, Aphra, is taken and she is left alone. Tula is a chimera, someone who is treated as a slave by their society, so her mother has been protecting her all her life and keeping her safe from marauders and people who wish to do her harm. Aphra is taken the day that she was finally going to give Tula some of the answers that she most desperately seeks about who she is, her place in the world, and who her father is, leaving Tula alone and confused.

This was a good novel and I enjoyed the fantasy elements. I have only ever seen chimeras have passing mentions or small roles in media so it was nice to see a different take on them and to read about them in more detail. I love fantasy and it is my favourite genre, but it can get repetitive at times and this novel really pushed those boundaries and felt different.

It was a really easy book to read due to its fast paced nature and nice reading style and the characters were well written, especially Tula who was a great character to read about. It is a very promising book with a nice message to remain true to yourself and one I would definitely recommend.

ARC Review: It Ends With You – S.K. Wright (Out Sep 6!)
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ARC Review: It Ends With You – S.K. Wright (Out Sep 6!)

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Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing me with a copy for review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: 06 September 2018
Find it on Goodreads

This debut by S.K. Wright tells the story of Eva Pieachowski’s disappearance and subsequent murder investigation after her body is found in a ditch. The story is told through many different perspectives as each person tries to uncover the truth behind what happened to her that fateful night that ended with her death. It is perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, Riverdale, and Pretty Little Liars.

I feel very conflicted about my thoughts for this book because there were many aspects about it that I liked, but there were also many aspects about it that I did not. It is a very interesting story and premise that is written well and I especially love the switching first person perspectives throughout and the mixed media elements with diary entries, messages, letters, blog posts, and more. You get to see an in depth look at many of the main characters, including Eva herself, and their biases meaning that the characters are well developed and flawed as any person truly is.

However, I felt that a lot of the character flaws and plot points were never truly addressed or confronted (such as Eva’s relationship with an older man) and I was a little disappointed with the ending. I felt like I needed more and too much was unresolved. There were a few uncomfortable aspects too that take away from what was overall an enjoyable book, such as the implication that Carolina is prettier and more worthy of attention when she isn’t wearing her glasses, and the moment that trees are described as “pale and anorexic”. Though it should be noted that this is a proof copy and these small moments may not make it into the finished novel.

I was first drawn to this book because I have been wanting to read more mystery books after reading One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus recently and this book definitely fit that and gave me what I wanted. It was full of suspense and intrigue and grabbed my attention with the many plot twists and questions. Though I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped and there were some problematic aspects, it was still a good read and is definitely a book that I would recommend if you’re looking for a good mystery or a guilty pleasure read that you don’t take too seriously.

Sampler Review: A Very Large Expanse of Sea – Tahereh Maji
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Sampler Review: A Very Large Expanse of Sea – Tahereh Maji

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Thank you NetGalley and the Electric Monkey imprint of Egmont Publishing for providing me with a free sampler for review.

Rating: N/A
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
Release Date: 18 October 2018
Find it on Goodreads

I have only read an ARC sampler of the first few chapters of this novel, but I’m already hooked and will definitely be picking this up in the future when it is released.

A Very Large Expanse of Sea follows Shirin, a young Muslim teen who is living in America in 2002 and who has faced a great deal of stereotyping and xenophobia throughout her life that has only increased following 9/11 the previous year. She has a strong voice and refuses to show any weaknesses or allow this torment to get to her and instead focuses her time on learning to break dance with her brother and his friends.

This novel addresses many topics that are important to society, especially today when xenophobia and ignorance still continues to rise, and it is definitely a book that I believe many people should read. I really appreciate the authors note at the beginning which states that this novel is partially inspired by true events because it really shows the realism and prevalence of the issues addressed throughout. It is not simply fiction.

I can’t wait to read the full novel when it is released in October.