20 YA Books You Should Read!

(Cross posted from my Substack newsletter: Reading Through the Chaos.)


This past month I’ve participated in a BookTube event called YA’UGUST where we celebrate reading YA books. As part of that, I posted some videos highlighting a couple of awesome YA book lists.

First up was books that are currently getting a lot of buzz. The ones people are talking about and adding to their TBRs like crazy. And I get it because I want to add them to mine too. So yea, I haven’t read any of these books yet, but I hope to soon!


Have you read any and what did you think? Are they worth the hype?

Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
Release Me by Tahereh Mafi
If Only I Had Told Her by Laura Nowlin
The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss
Shadow Reaper by Lynette Noni
The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham
Such a Lucky Girl by Wendy Heard
Behind Five Willows by June Hur
The Sun and the Star Maker by Rachel Griffin
I Could Give You the Moon by Ann Liang




To watch the video click here.

Then I created this list of some diverse books… books with POC authors or characters. With this list, I have actually read them all and highly recommend.


Have you read any of these? Do you agree with me that they are all great ones?

Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
Gods and Comics by Kat Cho
Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez
Pride by Ibi Zoboi

To watch the video click here.




Let me know what you think about these lists! 

On Reading YA for YA'UGUST!

The following is cross posted from my Substack newsletter page!

On Reading YA

One of my favorite things to read is YA books. I know it was a trend a few years ago, and people might be thinking it’s not that cool anymore for an old reader to still be reading YA, but I jumped on that wagon way back then and have yet to get off.

I truly think YA books are some of the best reading out there. It’s something I like to champion and gush about to this day.

That’s why every August, I celebrate YA books on my BookTube channel (and wherever else I’m talking about reading, like here and Instragram/Threads) with my friend Mariandrea (@books_and_bocadillos) We call this celebration YA’UGUST… the month of reading YA!

Of course I’m reading YA all year long but during August I love to hype it up a bit more. Here are my talking points:

Even if they are written for a younger audience, older people can still read them and get a TON out of them.


Even if they are written for a younger audience, the actual writing is still amazing and deep and lush and beautiful. (All the talk about YA books being “lesser than” makes me so crazy!)


Sometimes, though, it’s true that YA books are lighter and “easier” to read, which can be a balm in this world of hard things.


YA books have the breadth and range of genres, just like adult books. (YA is a category, not a genre.)


It is true that in recent years some YA books (and their authors) might be targeted to an older audience, thanks to the trend mentioned above. But there are still a TON of books out there with the aim to attract younger readers.


Bottom line: YA books are just so much fun!

Mariandrea has come up with a fun image bingo board to help get your creative book choosing juices flowing for YA reading in YA’UGUST. To participate, you just have to read one book, but if you want to go above and beyond, try to get a bingo!

Here are just some of the YA books I’d love to read this month:

Mariandrea and I also thought it would be fun to recommend a YA book to each other, so that book is actually my first YA read this month! 

I’m loving it so far!




What are some of your favorite YA books? Let me know in comments!

(I’ll have more on some YA lists to share further on into the month. Stay tuned!)

Book Review: Last to Leave by Teresa Richards

Book: Last to Leave by Teresa Richards

Genre: YA mystery

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a fun read! So many great mash ups of genres and story types.

It's the story of our girl, Fallon, who is a famous online video game streamer. She's been outspoken about girls in the gaming space and is well loved. She also has an online friend, a guy, who is also a gaming streamer. Together they are hoping to get chosen to participate in a murder mystery game that will also be live streamed, all with contestants from the streaming (but not necessarily) gaming world.

 So, of course they do and the book then follows their adventures within this game. It's like the How to Host a Murder games where they are all given characters to play and a pretend narrative to learn and a mystery to solve. If they are the "last to leave" the game and solve the mystery, they win!

It's also a lot like the board game Clue where to solve the mystery they have to figure out who did it, with what weapon in what room. The contestants are all housed in a huge mansion and have the run of the place as they try to find clue and make guesses and act out the story.

So much fun!

But, while this is all going on, there's the in real life mysteries. The connections these players have to each other outside the game. The back story of things that happened. The many problems and insecurities they have to overcome. Which, for me, was the best part of the story for sure.

I really enjoyed it! Such a unique story. Very fresh and modern and just... cool! Thank you so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to read it early! This one comes out June 2. Keep an eye out for it!

Book Review: Gods and Comics by Kat Cho

Book: Gods and Comics by Kat Cho

Genre: YA urban fantasy

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is a story about a girl who writes a webtoon based on the myths and legends her Korean grandmother told her... about the sun god and the water god and their kids. Her story is pretty popular and her webtoon actually goes viral. Which... somehow... brings her characters to life!

So now we have a story with her normal, ordinary girl problems mixed in with the problems of these gods, all set in our normal world, so it gets a little crazy, but in a fantastic and fun way.

Our girl, Grace, is dealing with things like grief because of the loss of both her mom and grandma, and anxiety (she suffers from panic attacks) and the feeling that she needs to be perfect and take care of everything for her dad. All these issues are dealt with in a nice, positive way, which I appreciated.

The romance is a simple one, with Grace falling for the character she created and who is now come to life, Hae, the son of the Sun God. But he has lost his powers. Which makes it really hard to fight Haebak, the Water God, when he comes to take revenge all the humans. 

As always, I love to learn more about these Korean stories and enjoy any sort of version and interpretation I can as the opportunity comes. So very fun. The story as a whole is a typical YA one, with all the expected tropes and feelings. 

Thank you to NetGalley for accepting me to read this ARC. The book will be released tomorrow, April 21! Check it out if any of these things sound awesome to you!

 

Book Review: We Are Never Getting Together by Janette Rallison

Book: We Are Never Getting Together by Janette Rallison

Genre: YA Romance

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This story is filled with tropes and banter and angst and antics, so you know I totally enjoyed it! We have our girl (who has lots of money) and our boy (who does not have money) who basically hate each other for some reason (enemies to lovers because...spoiler...lol!) so the book starts out with them "fighting" by doing crazy pranks on each other.  And then, as the story goes we of course learn that it was all due to some silly misunderstandings. 

But then when their single parents appear to be hitting it off, they decide to team up to make sure that does not happen! (I'm seeing it being called a reverse Parent Trap story... assuming everyone knows what The Parent Trap movie is!) So our girl (a drama queen) and our boy (a football quarterback star) decided to pretend THEY are together in order to discourage their parents from continuing a relationship... so yes, at the core of all the tropes, we have the fake relationship going on. Which of course means that eventually they will learn the truth about each other and change their minds. I love it when that happens.

It's delightful as expected. I love this author and all the witty fun situations that she creates. I always end up becoming totally invested and immersed because this type light-hearted fun story is my favorite. If it's your favorite style of story too, add this one to your list to read! 

This book will be released on April 7 and thank you to Netgalley for the advanced review copy. 

Book Review: Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean

Book: Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Release Date: February 3, 2026

This is a fun cute story about our girl Emma, who is struggling with the divorce of her parents and the decision of where to go to school. She is a fantastic violin player and wants to go to Berklee, but she also is feeling the need to stay close to home to help take care of her mom and grandpa. 

She helps her mom with their cleaning service and one day she gets a letter from a guy claiming to be her boyfriend...but he's writing from the future. So she is obsessed with figuring out which guy in her life could be the writer. 

Is it her best friend for forever, the boy next door, who she is suddenly seeing in a differently light? Or could it be the guy from high school who is an amazing cello player and is assigned to be her mentor at the classes she is going to? Or... maybe it's the guy who threw up on her shoes at a party? Or actually, it could it be the son of the very very rich family she cleans for!

So many choices!

In the course of all this, and the connections she has with these boys, she learns to be true to herself and do what she needs to do to move on in life and be successful.

I really enjoyed it! This is the style of writing and kind of book vibe that you all know I love! I haven't read any other books by this author, but have been wanting to and now I will for sure put those on my list. The reason I docked it a half a star and didn't give it my normal 4 stars for this type of book is because the ending was a bit of a let down for me. And left me feeling confused. I probably just didn't "get it" and if I could talk to someone about it, maybe I'd be all... OH YEAH! 

Anyway, I recommend this one to all lovers of YA contemporary romance, to people who love a little mix of Asian (Japanese in this case) culture mixed into their stories, and to fans of the author of course. It will be out early next month! (Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this advanced copy!) 

Book Review: Room to Breathe by Kasie West

 

Book: Room to Breathe by Kasie West

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Release Date: January 6, 2026

So, it appears I'm back to requesting books from NetGalley, and this is the first book that became available to me and I dropped everything else and read it over a couple of days, including the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I just love these books!

In this story, we have our two love interests who have been best friends for years. But something has happened to tear them apart. One day, they get locked in the teacher's lounge bathroom and have to face whatever happened and figure it all out. 

The story goes between THEN (a few months in the past where we get a glimpse of their friendship and eventually the thing that happened) and NOW (the present moment in the bathroom as they hopefully start talking and work things out.)  

I'm still not sure I can pinpoint what it is exactly that I love so much about YA contemporary romance stories. First love? For sure. The sweetness and simplicity of the stories? Probably. The swooniness that always seems to be present. Absolutely. I truly love getting immersed in all of this despite being as old as I am. Or maybe it's even BECAUSE of how old I am. I don't know. 

I really do enjoy it and Kasie West writes these types of stories right there among the best of them. I wish she would get more attention like Lynn Painter or Jenny Han.. or something. Anyway, I will keep reading them as long as she keeps writing them. If you haven't checked her stuff out yet, do it now. And add this one to the list!

Books I Read in January 2023

Welcome to my new format for "reviewing" books! I'm just going to do the monthly wrap up and report on my books read then, all in one post with mini reviews. Okay? Okay!

Here's what I read in January:

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle: I really loved this one about a girl with massive ADHD and a boy on the autistic spectrum. They get together in a pretty funny and then connect through their mutual love for a book called The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise. And they use those quotes in their texts to each other and it's adorable. They both have lots of issues to deal with and it seems like there's no way they can figure out how to be together.  It's a really cute and fun story with not your typical characters. 

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman: This one we read for book club in January. This author is quickly becoming a book club favorite and ends up on our lists quite often these days! It's a fun story narrated by a nearly 8 year old girl as she watches all the crazy things going on in her apartment building. She is also dealing with the death of her grandma... her crazy grandma who has sent in on a sort of treasure hunt after she's gone. And our girl ends up realizing that all the people in the apartment building have a connection. It's awesome just as all his books are, with amazing character development. He can capture people like no else!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: This is the book I read from my own stacks this month. A book that has been waiting for me since 2016... because I remember buying it at Powell's bookstore when we were on a trip that year! Anyway, I loved it and it gets to be my first 5 star read of the year! What a story that totally sucks you and keeps you on the edge the whole time! Our girl ends up posing as a sly and spying on the household of the commander of the school that trains soldiers to fight and suppress her people. She needs to get information so she can save her brother from horrendous jail and torture. Our guy is one of these highly trained soldiers and he has just graduated from this school. And he wants to escape. But if he's caught they will kill him. And of course their two desires somehow come together in all the crazy unexpected ways! AHH! It's all so intense!  I immediately got book 2 from the library and I hope to fit it in during February. 

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson: This was a sort of Booktube read along, though I haven't really succeeded in connecting with anyone reading it yet! LOL! It's a great historical fantasy (is that what you call it... magic in the 1800's but not with steampunk sort of devices). Our girl has been raised in a great library with intentions of running that library someday, but an incident happens that sends her off to be questioned by the sorcerers and magic is so very much frowned upon by the librarians. Bad bad stuff. But when she meets a certain sorcerer, she begins to wonder if everything she has been taught is right. Because he... and the demon that gives him his magic... are pretty cool after all. And then after they become friends they have to save the world! Fun stuff, and so beautifully written. 

February Plans:

• Read The Last Anniversary for bookclub
• Read the 2nd Ember in the Ashes book!
• Read Siddhartha, or that Leo Tolstoy short story thing for a challenge
• Read a king/queen book for the British Forced Phase
• That's all I'm thinking of at this point!

December 2022 Books: Mini Review Catch Up

These are the books I read in December! Quite a few more than I normally read because I was really trying to make a push and meet that dang Goodreads goal!

And with this post I might be mostly caught up!

Atomic Habits by James Clear: I finally got to this one that pretty much the whole world has been talking about. And yes, I can see what all the fuss is about. It does lay out a plan for getting into good habits in a way that is very clear (ha clear....get it?) and relatable and that makes sense. I would love to implement something into my life, but I will probably just on about things and forget it all! I gave this one 4 stars on Goodreads.

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren: This was our for fun Christmas book club read and it was pretty perfect for that directive. Our girl goes on vacation with her family and family friends every year, but this year is different in that it might be the last time they are able to do this. And then something happens, everything starts over, Ground Hog Day style. And she gets a couple of tries to get things right and to help fix the issues that are making everyone so sad. It was heartwarming, romantic and fun. I totally enjoyed it. Three stars on Goodreads.

Secrets of the Looking Glass by J. Scott Savage: This an ARC I got from the publisher and it needed to be read in September when it came out. Gah, ooops! It took me awhile thank you to all of lives distractions and my terrible time getting anything read these days! It's the second in the Lost Wonderland Diaries series, which is a delightful fun sort of retelling (not really, but in that world) of Alice in Wonderland. It's so very clever and funny and full of fun riddles and the like. I feel like kids will enjoy it even more than I did! I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

Places We've Never Been by Kasie West: I got this one for Christmas and read it in a couple of sittings, because as you know, I love her stories! Another fun YA romance that takes place on a road trip through very familiar places to me. I love that. Our characters are friends, but time has elapsed and things are now on shaking ground. It's fun to see them rekindle things. "Friends, to enemies, to lovers!" I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool: Another book I'm reading from my shelves that has been waiting forever. This one takes place shortly after WWII about a 13 year old who has been sent to a boarding school and he befriends a strange and interesting kid named Early, who teaches him all sorts of things about life. Together they go on a quest and navigate growing up. It's very heart warming and sweet. It won the Printz honor award. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. 

And that brings us to the end of 2022 reading! I think I might just do a monthly wrap up mini review post this year. And see how that goes. And here's hoping I read a TON more this year than last! 

November 2022 Books: Mini Review Catch Up!

 

Oh my word, but I am so behind in reviews. They are all one the YouTube channel though! One minute review shorts!!  And here I'll do the blogging version of that, mini reviews!

So these are the books rounded out my November reading:

The Maid by Nita Prose: It's about a girl who loves being a maid in a fancy hotel. One day she finds a dead dude, and the mystery that wraps up surrounding this guy and the people involved is really quite interesting. I find it fun and engaging, but not as crazy amazing as everyone seemed to be making it out to be. The ending was... surprising. And strange. And I still don't really know what to think about it all. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry: I ended up loving this one! What a great sweet romance. Our main characters have been friends for years, going on a fun crazy trip together every summer. But denying all these years how they feel about each other. We get flashbacks to the previous trips, but spend a lot of time on the current trip where they finally figure things out! I gave this one 4 stars on Goodreads. I  look forward to reading more by her! I hear Book Lovers is a must!

The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson: This is a book I've had on my shelf forever, the second in a YA SF series. In the first book we learn what happened to Jenna Fox... in this book, we learn what happened to her friends, and it's CRAZY stuff! I remember loving the first book, this one was fun, but not as compelling as that first one. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

Not Going There by Terri Osburn: Another book by an author friend! This one is book 3 in the "Not" series where we are following the love stories of a group of fun friends. I totally enjoyed this one about our girl who gets fired and ends up running her own bookkeeping business and then her first client is a dude that she is totally turning her nose up at... and then, she finds out he's actually pretty cool. In fact, I myself quite fell in love with him! I gave this one 4 stars on Goodreads for some fun romantic comedy escape.

Stay tuned for a catch up post on books read in December! Here's hoping I can keep up better this new year! Thought I might keep this format... and just do mini reviews from now on... hmm....

Book Review: Feed by Mira Grant

 Book: Feed by Mira Grant

Genre: YA dystopian

Rating: ★ ★ ★

This was another book club read! The premise is quite intriguing... it takes place several years after a zombie virus outbreak, and the world has come to learn how to deal with the aftermath. Even though this book was written in 2010 (or published then I should say) it has so many similarities to our world now with the whole virus fear and constant testing and everyone staying in and social distancing... AND... the political fall out.

Yes, this book got a bit heavy on the politics for me. Our main characters end up on the campaign trail of a presidential candidate. They are bloggers and in this world, bloggers are the main  news source. The ones brave enough to go out and face the zombie threat and bring people news. Another intriguing premise for sure.

But, I had a lot of issues with the delivery of this story. It's very info dumpy, a lot of telling about how this world works instead of just jumping into the story and showing us. It took a lot of time for something to actually happen. The writing style was a bit dry and just not my favorite. The characters also not so very much my favorite.

That being said, when the story actually started to get going, there were enough crazy things that happen to keep me going. A couple of unseen twists and turns. And I am just a touch curious about what might happen in the next books.

Another interesting thing is the relationship between our main characters. They are brother and sister but dang... they sure don't act like it! And we do learn they are adopted, but I still wondered about whether they are biological or not. That might come out in future books, or I missed it. I don't know. But that whole thing is intriguing to me too. 

We did talk about some stuff that goes on in the next books during book club and it actually does make me want to read more. Even with all the issues I had. Go figure!

Book Review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Book: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Genre: YA SF

Rating:  ★ ★ ★

Awhile back I made a pile of books for a Top Ten Tuesday with the theme of "books I've had for years but never read." That stack has been mocking me ever since. So I grabbed one off the top and read it! So there!

This particular one was interesting to me too because of the scifi theme, since that's the sort of book I'm currently trying to finish up writing myself. So I was kind of hoping that reading this would spur me on to finishing my own story. Ha.

Anyway, I remember this one getting a ton of buzz years ago and I'm assuming many of you have read it, yeah? What did you think? I should look up old reviews!

It's about a girl who decides to go on a mission with her parents, which involves them getting frozen for 300 plus years while the ship travels to the new planet they are going to settle and start civilization there. So the catch is, someone wakes her up WAY too early and now she is part of the crew of the ship that lives and dies there while they make their way to the new planet. 

She makes friends with the dude who is up next to lead this crew and there are so many strange things going on and together they get to (or try to get to) the bottom of it all.  Basically, this crew and this mission in general, is not a happy one. WAH, these people are messed up!

So of course this book is just the start and to finish the story, one must keep going! I have so many books where I've read the first one and then totally forget to keep going, even if I'm intrigued. Sigh. Has anyone read this whole series? Is it worth it? Should I keep going?

Book Review: Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

 Book: Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

Genre: YA science fiction

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

This was last month's book club book. And now it's almost time for this month's! I am so behind!

Anyway, I went into it knowing nothing. And was pleasantly surprised with how fast I was sucked in and invested.

This one takes place on a planet where a couple of groups of people are in conflict with each other. Different customs and styles and goals. The story opens when the boy and his brother from one group get kidnapped by some people from the other group, after they murder his father. Now it's a few years later and he is older and ready to try to escape and take his brother with him before it's too late. Because the brother is being changed by the power of the dude who is the leader of these people.

And the sister of this dude has a special power that makes it so if she touches people, they feel intense pain. To the point where she can kill them. And the brother uses her like crazy for his power, and she is sick of it. And ready to escape.

And the story gets great when the two of them meet. 

"Carve the mark" refers to the tradition these people have of tattooing a line on their arm for all the people they've killed. It's a badge of honor. And our boy is collecting them whether he wants to or not, even though he is from the more peaceful people. 

Oh, did I mention that the boy CAN touch the girl? Because HIS power is that powers don't work on him! Yes. Very interesting indeed!

So they get help and concoct a plan and it's a crazy plan and wow. 

And then the book ends and it's really not over! AH, where's the next book?

Book Review: The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest

Book: The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

This is the second in this series wherein we continue the story from book one The Black Witch. Our girl Elloren is still at school and still hanging out with the "misfits." But now she is determined to save them. Because her people who rule the land currently, have decided to start rounding up certain races and banning them, or killing them, or otherwise persecuting them. 

So, in other words, she is going against everything she's been taught and totally turning on her people. While at the same time her people think she is next in line to be the Black Witch, or ruler of them all. 

She has a made alliances with several of her friends, and found others who are against what's going on, and together they make up the Resistance. Their first task is to save some of the people... the Fae and the Selkies for starters. Meanwhile, her aunt is determined to have her "wandfasted" (engaged with no going back) to a dude who is NOT part of the Resistance. But if she does agree to marry him, than maybe she can get him to turn and be of help because he is high up in a power position. But that's a big maybe.

Oh my word. There's so much. I can't even summarize properly!

Anyway, it's all very crazy and detailed and there are a ton of characters as is expected in a high fantasy of this sort. And so many types of people and the prejudices everyone has against each other is rampant. I don't know how Elloren is going to fix any of it! But it's a great ride trying to hang on with her while she tries. I'm going to have to finish this series with the next book, aren't I? 

Book Review: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Book: Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Genre: YA horror

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

We read this book for last month's book club and I went into it pretty much knowing nothing. It took me a minute to get into it, but then it was quick and fast reading after that. I started it late and literally finished the last paragraph as the first book club member was arriving at my house! WAH!

So this is a zombie story that takes place a few years after the Civil War. So it's an alternate reality story that basically answers the question "what if when Gettysburg happened, all the guys dying in that battle rose up as zombies?" 

Our heroine girl is a former slave, now "freed", but training to be a companion.. .meaning the one who escorts the rich white girls and fights the zombies off should the need arise. (Gah sorry I already forgot what the zombies are called in this world.) She seems happy to be learning to fight, but not so happy that this is the only choice she really has. 

She and a bunch of other girls live and train in a sort of boarding house. One day when she fights a zombie off of the mayor (in a situation he himself created,) she suddenly gets some attention and he decides he wants her for special project. And THAT'S about when this book became very riveting and crazy!

It reminded me a lot of The Walking Dead, mostly in that people are trying all kinds of ways to survive, and this ends up turning the survivors into the bad guys. People are so awful when they are trying to take charge of survivors and lead them through an apocalypse! Seriously, if something like this every happens in real life, I hope we've all learned something from all the stories we've watched and read!

And then the book just ended when things were getting very intense which of course means I will be needing to find book two. 

Anyway, I really quite enjoyed it. It not only deals with zombies, but with all the hot button topic race issues of our day, but in a clever way. Very creative book all around. 

Book Review: The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Book: The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola  Yoon

Genre: Contemporary YA

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

Here's another book that's been on my TBR for a long long time. I took it with me on my recent trip and read it while sitting on the beach. PERFECT!

I really do love this author's style. So very engaging and easy to read and totally so easy to love the characters. 

This one was about a kid who's about to head off to an interview that he does not want to deal with. He wants to do his own thing but his parents of course think otherwise. So he's begrudgingly off to get his hair cut (he has a ponytail... which I LOVE! Don't cut it off dude!) and then to the interview.

Meanwhile our girl, who is from Jamaica, is trying to talk to someone to figure out if she can stop her family from getting deported. She has a lead with a lawyer she thinks might actually help. She's out in the city (they are in New York I think, yes.) and feeling very frantic about her situation.

So their paths cross, and they have time to kill, so they hang out. And they learn about each other and fall instantly in love. But it's very complicated, so they know of course that nothing is going to come of it. But we as readers have hope that they might work it out somewhere. Our dude has hope too. Our girl is like, yeah, no. 

Lots of stuff happens in that day. And we get it from both their points of view, plus some views of some of the random people they come across in their travels. And also from people in their back stories. I thought it was a brilliant way to tell a story. So great!

So in the end, this author remains on my favorites list! If you haven't read her stuff yet, go for it!

Book Review: To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Book: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Genre: YA rom com

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I read this for a second time for book club last month. I didn't plan on it, but a lively discussion happened PRE book club on our chat which made me want to remember it better. It's so crazy how quickly and easily I forget books, you know? Like why read them in the first place I sometimes wonder if I just forget them.

Anyway, I flew through the re-read and pretty much loved it again. At book club people brought out all kinds of things they have issues with, and I'm all... but... it was FUN! 

I think everyone knows the premise of this story, yeah? Lara Jean writes letters to her ex crushes to get her feelings out and then puts them away to never be mailed. But then, they DO get mailed and so theses guys are coming up to her with letter in hand going... so um... what's this about?? And she has to safe face with one crush who happens to be her sister's boyfriend, and so she makes another ex crush pretend to be her current boyfriend. Yeah. Fake boyfriend trope! It's great!

And lots of fun Korean culture stuff thrown in just for even more fun! (I read this the first time before I was immersed in the K fandom and so it was fun to re-read again with a very different perspective about that.) 

So yeah ,I love the banter, the silliness, the angst, the sister relationships (Kitty steals the show in both the TV version AND the book version!) just everything. It's a fun book. A fun series. I'm glad I decided to re-read it!

Book Review: Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

Book: Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

Genre: YA magic realism

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

I've come to learn that I'm quite the fan of Nicola Yoon books. And this one was also quite lovely.

Our girl is sad about stuff that's happened in her life. She's given up on love. And it doesn't help that she suddenly sees visions of people's love life's.. .and how they will end. She's determined to never be part of that craziness.

She ends up at a dance studio (she was just trying to return a book) and somehow she ends up taking ballroom dancing lessons. And is partnered with a really awesome beautiful dude. A dude she is NOT going to fall in love with. (Seriously though. He dances. And plays guitar. That's like, all it takes, right?)

Anyway, as she continues to see these visions, she continues to kind of freak out and wants to figure out how to make them go away. But before that happens, of course she sees her own story. 

And that's all I'm going to say about that. 

I loved all the meshing up of things here... books, dancing, music, family. Totally enjoyed it. Now I just need to read the other Nicola Yoon book that's been patiently waiting for... a long time!

MINI BOOK REVIEWS! September 2021 to December 2021

 So... to catch up... I'm just going to list the books I haven't fully "reviewed" yet (from 2021) with a little mini thought, and then have a fresh start for the year.

Sunkissed by Kasie West: Fun, musically-themed story that includes a summer camp romance with a hot, long haired, sensitive guitar player. All while managing to fulfill one's own dreams. Cute and fun summer romance, and just what I'd expect from Kasie West. She remains one of my all time favorite comfort authors. Love her stuff so much!

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman: We read this one for book club and while I enjoyed the first page immensely (I have never related to something SO MUCH!) I was soon feeling...um.. anxious about the story. The character made me crazy, the premise made me crazy. But my buddies said... DO NOT QUIT... so I didn't and they were right. All these things redeemed themselves and everything made sense in the end. And the characters ended up being lovely and perfectly relatable. What a great premise for a story that really looks deep into stuff we all have to deal with in life. It was great. This author's writing is fantastic, as most of you know.  

Not Playing Fair by Terri Osburn: By an author friend of mine.. and I got to read this advanced copy. Fun romance about a baseball playing librarian heroine who is getting over being dumped when a new dude shows up to play ball.  She also has issues with her mom who she hasn't talked to for years when suddenly a letter from her shows up in the mail. Oh dear! Totally fun and fluff read!

Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez: By a local author who, with this very book, was featured on Reese Witherspoon's Book Club! It's about a girl who's dream is to play soccer, but her family thinks it's crazy for her. She is out to prove them wrong!

You Have a Match by Emma Lord: This one is about what happens if you take a DNA test and get a surprise. Our girl realizes she is a perfect match to be sisters with someone who lives in her town, but has never met. So they meet up and decide what they will do from there. Confront their parents? Become friends? Or not? This one features summer camp experiences too, just like the book above. 

A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey: I really loved this one (fantastic writing!) about a Cuban girl from Miami who is struggling with lots of things that have gone wrong in her life, so her family ships her off to spend the summer with her aunt in London. And how she finds herself there despite her best efforts to continue to hate life. SO MUCH FOOD in this book! I need all the recipes! (As if I could 1. actually make them and 2. actually eat them. Sigh.)

And those are all the books I read starting from when I last posted a review through the end of 2021. Not a whole lot I know, but I'm at least still reading!

Book Review: Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda and Valynne E. Maetani

Book: Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda and Valynne E. Maetani

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: ★ ★ ★ 

This book was chosen for one of our book club reads this past summer, but I knew nothing about it at all except the authors are/were local. When I got it my hands I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was set in Japan and based on Japanese folklore. Cool!

And it was cool, mostly. But sometimes a bit hard to follow. I felt like the authors assumed that readers would have a base in Japanese culture to help them understand things, but if you are coming into it totally cold, you are going to be lost for sure.

It's about a girl whose family runs a shrine in Kyoto. A lot of the creatures that help them are mythological people, some good, some not so good. And most people can't see them, but of course, our girl can. 

So one day, some of the bad creatures attack the shrine and are after a relic that they need to take over the world. And Kira (our girl) needs to figure out how to stop this from happening. She, together with her friend (who is... a nine-tailed fox in the making! Ah, do you see a theme in the stuff I keep consuming here!) have to find seven death gods to help them. 

It gets pretty detailed and complicated, all the magic and craziness that happens. It's beautifully written and very lush and poetic and awesome. Just... as I said.. sometimes hard to follow and understand everything. But despite all that, I enjoyed it. It was quite the ride!