YA Fiction

Dungeons and Drama

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Title: Dungeons and Drama

Author: Kristy Boyce

Year: 2024

Genre: YA fiction, YA romance, Dungeons and Dragons, Musical Theater,

Queer shit: mlm side relationship, musical theater, D&D

Vibe Check: Musical theater fan fake dates a D&D fan, not only do they enjoy fake flirting but they find their interests overlap in beautiful and magical ways

Pile of Opinions: Soooo cute!!! Adding this to the list of books I wish I’d had as a teenager along with everything Elise Bryant, Michelle Quach, and Anna-Marie McLemore ever write. I’m looking forward to going back and reading the author’s other books. I love all the characters and everything felt so real and believable and raw in the way only good YA writing can feel. This book had me laughing out loud and getting second hand butterflies and I am here for it. A musical theater fanatic gets grounded and her “punishment” is working at her dad’s gaming store for 8 weeks. She is trying to revive the canceled spring play but gets sucked into the world of D&D. What starts as part of her cover fake dating Nathan so her douchey ex boyfriend stops pitying her and so Nathan’s crush will get jealous and finally give him the time of day quickly turns into an “is this real or just part of the act” as the two start to fall for each other. This felt every bit the teenage dream of exploring the world beyond what is right in front of you and finding friends in unlikely and unexpected places. This book is for Dungeons and Dragons fanatics, musical theater enthusiasts, and readers of sweet romance and young love. I am definitely buying the physical copy when it comes out January, 2024, and will be on the lookout for the author’s other books as well. Let me know if you’ve read this and what you thought in the comments!

Professional Reader

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The Boy You Always Wanted

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Title: The Boy You Always Wanted 

Author: Michelle Quach

Year: 2023

Genre: YA fiction, YA romance, coming of age, Asian-American experience, Family dynamics, multi-generational

Queer shit: I feel like some was mentioned in passing but nothing significant

Vibe Check: Sweet family with some cycles to break, Eldest daughter attempts to do everything because she loves her family, finding your people

Pile of Opinions: Books about complex family dynamics will always get me, especially cross-generational. I couldn’t tell you if I loved the falling in love pieces of this or the family pieces more but they were all beautiful. Francine’s grandpa is in his final months of life and is discouraged because there is no male heir. Though it is modern day and this isn’t as important as it once was, Francine can see it’s important to her A Gung (grandpa). She decides to try to talk her schoolmate into an old tradition of being a stand-in heir to uplift her A Gungs spirits so he can be at peace for the end of his life. This story explores so many relationships and the lengths we will go to for those we care about. Michelle Quach writes YA feminism in a way that just heals my inner teenager and I can’t get enough. I appreciate authors who use their platform to show the reader a look into their family values and cultural background through their stories. Also showing other family values of similar backgrounds, I love hearing their stories. Learning through stories is one of my favorite ways to learn. Francine’s family was both so relatable as I also grew up in a family where we care for and cater to our elderly and majority women are doing the care tasks. Francine works to convince her classmate, Ollie, to be the stand-in heir as his family has known hers for many years and she hopes he will understand the weight of this ask. And also she so doesn’t have a crush on him anymore and this has nothing to do with that. Francine and Ollie are both Asian-American but they show us how different their family’s treat that. Francine has the classic eldest daughter syndrome of doing everything for everyone and Ollie is mostly just trying to get through his days. Francine’s family is entwined in each others’ lives, especially once her grandparents moved in, and Ollie’s family is mostly his dog as his parents work long hours. Watching these two navigate family expectations, as well as high school, shows the depth of their characters and the burdens and priorities teenagers take on from their parents. This was a very heartfelt sweet read. Let me know if you’ve read it and what you thought in the comments. Thank you Michelle for teaching us through stories.

Professional Reader

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Lightkeepers

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

Title: Lightkeepers

Author: Kennedy Plumb

Year: 2022

Genre: YA, modern retelling of fairy tale

Queer shit: None that I remember

Vibe Check: Foster kids, modern Rapunzel, cults, finding freedom and finding home

Pile of Opinions: I love a good fairytale retelling! The Lightkeepers is a Rapunzel retelling set in modern times where Rapunzel is part of an extremist cult where she is locked up out of fear of a (fake) virus that impacts children under 18 the most. She meets her travel companion for a night of freedom after starting to question the validity of the virus her ‘mother’ tells her about. CW: this story does involve foster care experiences, kidnapping, and near the end there is a gun pulled but not shot. This book also explores found family, finding yourself, coming of age, and all the children are safe by the end of the book btw. I enjoyed this retelling and how it explored the capacity people (even young people, stop underestimating teenagers) are capable of and resilience the world often demands of them. The journey of our two leads finding home was collectively heart wrenching and heartwarming.

Professional Reader

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Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling 

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

Title: Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling 

Author: Elise Bryant

Year: 2023

Genre: YA romance

Queer shit: Lesbian couple, maybe more that was small or in passing?

Vibe Check: a shy powerhouse of a singer finds her voice and self in a way she never expected, a D&D loving blogger finds that who he is as person is enough

Pile of Opinions: I love everything Elise Bryant has published thus far and I safely assume I will love everything she ever publishes. This story and these characters are so sweet and sincere and this book shares so many real struggles many adults and young adults alike face as they try to find their way without losing who they are. Reggie is a Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast with an anonymous blog calling out the problematic areas in the D&D game and community. Delilah finds herself with the chance to sing with her friend’s band and it scares the shit out of her and she does it anyway. She finds she loves it. Reggie and Delilah bump into each other a few times by accident and then eventually on purpose as they learn who they are and the power of their voices. I really enjoyed how raw this book felt. This book spanning over a year gave space for organic growth and some real time processing. I found myself so frustrated with Reggie’s choices and realized it’s because I related so hard and felt super called out. Society (and sometimes even our own communities) so often send the message that what we like and who we are is wrong and the path to revealing our truest selves can often come with some little lies for self protection, but at a price. I love coming of age stories and I love seeing character growth. Let me know what you thought of this one in the comments.

Professional Reader

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Blanca and Roja

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

Title: Blanca and Roja

Author: Anna-Marie McLemore

Year: 2018

Genre: YA Fantasy/Fiction/Folktales/swans

Queer shit: Trans/non-binary, queer relationship, gender fluidity and expression, pronouns. 

Vibe Check: the vibe of this was kind of like panicked siblings left unsupervised. I really liked that set up though because it also was big about the complex nature of sibling relationships and how your siblings can be your best friends and your biggest enemies then back to your best friends in the same conversation. Sibling dynamics are very interesting and very sacred to me. Also big swan vibes. 

Pile of Opinions: Anna-Marie McLemore has quickly become one of my favorite authors the last couple years after a friend introduced me to their work. I love the folklore vibes of all their books (that I have read so far) and thoroughly enjoy how the stories are told. Blanca and Roja are sisters but their family has a dark curse; each generation always has two daughters, and one is always taken by the swans due to a questionable deal made with the swans generations ago. The sisters must work together to find a solution, but the sisters are also rivals because you don’t know who the swans will take. This book covered sibling bonds, exploring gender identity and expression, delicious apples, and teen shenanigans. I really enjoyed this story and wish I had all of McLemore’s books when I was younger. The way they keep mystery throughout the story and sweep you up in storytelling is beautiful and soul-healing. I find myself getting caught up in the characters and don’t try to predict the outcome, I just enjoy the storytelling. 

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The Brooklyn Brujas Series: Labyrinth Lost, Bruja Born, and Wayward Witch

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

Title: The Brooklyn Brujas Series: Labyrinth Lost, Bruja Born, and Wayward Witch

Author: Zoraida Cordova

Year: 2016, 2018, 2019

Genre: YA Fiction/Fantasy, witches(bruja, brujo, brujex), 

Queer shit: Queer relationship, non-binary character (brujex)

Vibe Check: I…..confused myself (not uncommon) and accidentally read the third book first. The first book was all about the middle child vibes and explored wanting something different for your life than what your family chose, fighting with and against magical beings in another realm. The second book is about the oldest sister and explores outward beauty and its impact on our self-worth and identity, grief and loss, and was simultaneously my favorite and least favorite book of the series. I really didn’t like most of the plot because of reasons I’ll list below, and loved the overarching themes throughout. The third book is about the youngest sister and explores bonds with parents being different, personal power and identity, and includes more fighting with and against magical creatures in yet another realm.  

Pile of Opinions: 

Labyrinth Lost: I feel like this book would have had a bigger impact on me if I had read the books in order. I enjoyed the adventure and relationships and setting the scenes with family and traditions and normalcy, I just loved the 3rd one so much more that reading this one after the 3rd felt like a step back. I highly recommend reading these books in order as the author intended and not doing what I did haha Read the order of books in a series before you start reading, learn from my mistakes! I did enjoy this book and would recommend the entire series if you like witches and family and adventures. 

Buy labryrinth Lost

Bruja Born: This was my least favorite of the series because it was about zombies. Something turns like the entire high school into zombies and hearts are being ripped out and eaten and it was just not for me at all. It was a great story and well told, I just really hate zombies and concepts surrounding fighting zombies.

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Wayward Witch: This is the third book in this series and I accidentally read it first because it happens. I loved this one the most out of the three. Maybe I am biased because it was about the youngest sister and I am the youngest sibling in my family. Also maybe because a non-binary character shows up. I enjoyed the adventure and the relationships of this one as Rose learned to use her powers and fight forces when she and her dad end up in a magical realm that traps her dad in a tower and sends her on a quest to fight powers destroying the realm. This book explained enough back story throughout it as a review that I wasn’t that confused reading this one first.

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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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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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