Book Reviews

Not Here to be Liked

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Not Here to be Liked 

Author: Michelle Quach

Year: 2021

Genre: YA fiction/feminism/crush-worthy/identity 

Queer shit: Feminism. I know the leads weren’t queer but I cannot for the life of me remember about side characters. I seriously got so sucked into the lead (which doesn’t usually happen) and forgot to pay attention to the other people…. 

Vibe Check: VIBES! My teenage self was cheering this entire book. I want this book to be required reading in high school English so people can analyze the characters and their decisions and then also have a feminist uprising and also all get matching sweaters and boba. I don’t even like boba and this book made me want to change my ways.  

Pile of Opinions: I honestly ordered this book because an author I like recommended pre-ordering because they knew the author and this was Michelle’s first book. I was not prepared for this book to be everything I didn’t know that I needed. It starts off with our lead (female) having paid her dues and done her time and excelled on the school paper but when it comes time to elect the new head of the paper for senior year, she loses the spot to a boy who only joined the paper this year because he had an injury that took him out of the sport he was playing. Discussions of being likable, being pretty, does she deserve the position more than him (yes.)? Understanding complexities of feminism as well as maneuvering senior year. I want to go back in time to my high school years and hand me this book. I needed it. This book is on my list to reread this year (2022), join me?

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Forestborn

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Forestborn

Author: Elayne Audrey Becker

Year: 2021

Genre: YA fantasy fiction/super adventure/siblings 

Queer shit: gay characters in main circle, character in passing described as ‘androgenous’ and ‘they’ pronouns used (it was like 4 sentences and it mattered so it is here)

Vibe Check: Wow. just wow. This book is an amazing adventure and I now care too deeply for all the characters and need more people to read this book so I can talk through my feelings and cry with someone about it.

Pile of Opinions: This is book one, book 2 comes out this year (2022) maybe in the fall? The story is about a magical plague making people sick and a brother and a sister getting caught up in the king’s court trying to help solve the problem since no one really knows what the disease is or why it’s happening. The siblings are shape shifters but can’t shift into just anything, they each have a specific set of options that show up throughout their lives. I think this book has a really interesting way of acknowledging trauma in a fantasy context which I really appreciated. Trauma happens in like every fantasy book (‘like every’ is not a statistical measurement, merely an observation based on my own experience reading books) and is rarely talked about. I understand characters are usually in the middle of a whole situation and don’t really have time to stop and be like “wow, you just went through a lot and it may be impacting you, do you want to talk about it?” because they often still have stuff to get done before they are safe. This author did a really amazing job of describing characters’ reactions to traumatic experiences in a way that is honest and human (I know they are magical creatures but you know what I mean). Giving character reaction to trauma in a fantasy novel without interrupting the flow of the story or adventure does not sound like an easy task and I love how this author handled it. I found myself rationing out the pages of this book because I was enjoying it and didn’t want it to end. When I found out there was a part two I finished the book very quickly, taking comfort in the fact that my new friends will be back with more stories. I also love books about siblings who (mostly) get along because I also like my siblings and if we were sent on a quest we would absolutely get into arguments but we would also not have it any other way and we would make a great team. Please go read this so we can talk about it.

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Meet Cute Diary

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Meet Cute Diary

Author: Emery Lee

Year: 2021

Genre: YA Fiction/Romance/coming of age

Queer shit: non-binary, ace (asexual), pronouns, trans, gay

Vibe Check: This book is as cute and sweet as the title and cover imply

Pile of Opinions: This book was handed to me the first time I finally got the guts to ask the bookstore experts for a book with a non-binary character since I was still new to being out of the non-binary closet. Shout out to The Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle for not only having a book ready but being so queer friendly always. This book is about a trans character and his journey to coming out, coming of age, but also the journey of how complex coming out is. Living fully into himself while visiting his brother out of state. Balancing freedom and independence, he is the author of a blog that tells the happily ever afters of trans people and his views of what type of boyfriend he wants are challenged as he finds out the difference between stories on a website and real life people. This book does a beautiful job of discussing pronouns (including a conversation that is an amazing example of how to respond to someone sharing their pronouns and I definitely cried). This book was the cute trans love story I hoped it would be and it made my heart happy.

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Edie in Between

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Edie in Between

Author: Laura Sibson 

Year: 2021

Genre: YA Fiction/fantasy? grief/loss, magic

Queer shit: Lead character is a a queer girl who likes girls

Vibe Check: witchy stuff, cursed house, boats haha 

Pile of Opinions: The short summary is a girl loses her mom and when someone in their family dies their ghost still hangs around. Edie has to move in with her grandma and learns about her family’s history with magic and the family home that is a little (a lot) cursed and the adventures that go with learning where you come from and who you get to be. I liked how this book approached grief and I read the book as a bit of a metaphor for grieving. I’m not sure if that’s what the author intended but since I had just recently lost someone close, grief was heavy on my mind. I really connected to Edie’s grief and how losing someone so close can rock your identity and also create a push to take root in who you are. The magic was throughout the book, though the fantasy was really only in the last hundred pages. I did like the cursed house though and am possibly too intrigued by it. It’s best I stay home as much as I do, my radar for danger is not great haha If my life were a book I would be making smart ass comments about my decisions regularly. Ok, I already do. I also really loved the cover of this book a lot!

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The Witch Haven

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: The Witch Haven

Author: Sasha Peyton Smith 

Year: 2021

Genre: YA Fantasy? Paranormal Fiction (according to google), witchy, historical fiction

Queer shit: Supporting character is implied lesbian

Vibe Check: Kinda murdery, very witchy, nice and empowering. Don’t read before bed.

Pile of Opinions: This is a book I chose purely based on about 80% judging it by its title and cover and 20% actually reading the description and being interested. I’ve found I like doing it this way sometimes, knowing nothing about the book or the author other than what the book’s sleeve tells me. This book was dark and sad and had way more murder than I was comfortable with or prepared for. I also could not put this book down! I connected with the characters quickly and it was no time at all before I was speaking out loud my smart ass commentary of whether or not I think someone is trustworthy or up to no good and asking why people make stupid decisions. This is when you know I am sucked into a book. The quick summary is that this book is about a school for girls who find out they have magical powers. The school works to help them train their skills and of course people get into some adventure and shenanigans. Book 2 (I think there are only two books) comes out later this year (2022) and I am looking forward to it. Maybe #2 will be less murdery? Haha I doubt it. I enjoyed the storylines of finding our community and nurturing friendships through whatever life throws at you. I found this a very sweet and authentic view of the complications of friendship.

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One True Loves

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: One True Loves

Author: Elise Bryant

Year: 2022

Genre: YA Fiction/Romance

Queer shit: Gay friend, gay brother

Vibe Check: This book has everything! Betrayal, complex family dynamics, mental illness, pressures to succeed, the beauty of friendship, love after broken trust and also complete hesitancy with love because broken trust, a cruise ship, amazing countries I would like to go to, prom, planning for after high school, deciding what to do with your life. This is basically a book about an Enneagram 4 going on a family cruise and as an Enneagram 4, I am here for it. 

Pile of Opinions: This book was so much more than I expected. The story is about the best friend (Lenore) of the lead (Tessa) from happily Ever Afters, Elise Bryant’s debut book, who we already sort of knew was a strong-willed free spirit. The book mostly takes place on a Mediterranean cruise with her little sister who is a prodigy child already reading and comprehending at the collegiate level while barely being a tween, her older brother who is getting ready to start law school, and their parents. Lenore is about to go to prom and graduate, then spend two weeks of her summer on this family vacation. I loved how this book captured how much at this point in someone’s life is everything. I talk a lot about this but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop anytime soon, but we (adults) can be so rude and inconsiderate to teenagers by taking the mindset of “in a few years you’ll look back and this won’t seem like as big a deal” and I find this so demeaning. My crushes and loves as a teenager were everything and all-consuming and someone older belittling my experience was incredibly hurtful and damaging. Bryant writes these young adults so beautifully, their problems are real and they aren’t silly or childish. Relationships are difficult and complicated and we bring all our past experiences into our future relationships, and not just romantic. Siblings, parents, friends, all of these relationships help shape how we build and maintain relationships. Bryant also wrote beautifully about mental health, more specifically, panic attacks. As someone who experiences panic attacks and has had to learn how to navigate the world and explain myself to people about this, while being misunderstood about it, I really appreciated how gently she handled this subject. This book made me cry three completely separate times and it was wonderful. I highly recommend this book for a large number of reasons. The amount of personal reflection I did during this book felt like months worth of therapy. It was beautiful. I am looking forward to reading this one again.

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Happily Ever Afters

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Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Happily Ever Afters

Author: Elise Bryant 

Year: 2021 

Genre: YA Fiction/Romance

Queer shit: Gay friend 

Vibe Check: This book is about an arts focused school and I am very jealous and would like to go there.  

Pile of Opinions: Tessa is starting at a new school that specializes in the arts. She is a writer and is there to polish her skills and advance as a writer. She meets friends, meets so many challenges in writing and in romance, and has to find the balance of who she is and how she wants to move around in the world. I absolutely loved this book. It was everything I hoped it would be and gave me butterflies to read through. Elise Bryant is quickly becoming my favorite YA romance writer. This story was sweet and sincere and the characters were not only believable but I finished the book feeling as though they were my friends too. Tessa’s journey of finding her place at a new school, building friendships, and seeing through facades of high school was very real and relatable while also having that “out of a book” edge. This book also didn’t have sex in it which is refreshing to me because every romance story pushing to include sex burns me out a little. I enjoy the innocence of falling for someone without it needing to include teen sex is good representation and nice to mix in with the love stories that get steamy and do involve sex. Please go read this and then go read Bryant’s 2022 book One True Loves so we gush about them.

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