[Comic Book Review] Faith Volume 1: Hollywood and Vine by Jody Houser

Orphaned at a young age, Faith Herbert - a psionically gifted "psiot" discovered by the Harbinger Foundation - has always aspired to greatness. But now this once ordinary teenager is taking control of her own destiny and becoming the hard-hitting hero she's always known she can be - complete with a mild-mannered secret identity, unsuspecting colleagues, and a day job as a reporter. Faith makes a secret transformation to patrol the night as the City of Angels' own leading superhero - the sky-soaring Zephyr! But flying solo is going to be tougher than she every thought when Zephyr uncovers a deep-rooted alien conspiracy. Two-bit burglars and car thieves are one thing, but when the world needs a hero to stave off an full-blown extraterrestrial invasion, will Faith find herself over her head or reading for her biggest challenge yet?

[Book Review] Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison and a father who is closed off because he served in the Vietnam war. He meets Dante, an optimistic know-it-all who has a unique view of the world, who teaches Ari how to swim. They start to develop a friendship, the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. Through this friendship both Ari and Dante help each other learn about themselves and grow into the people they were always meant to be.

[Book Review] Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee

Natasha "Tash" Zelenka is the director of a web series adaptation of Anna Karenia, a book writter by Tash's literary love Leo Tolstoy. When the web series, Unhappy Families, gets a shout out by YouTube's bigger creators, Unhappy Families becomes viral. Dealing with the pressure of making the web series even more perfect now that more fans and critics are watching. When Unhappy Families is nominated for a Golden Tuba, Tash's ongoing email and text flirtation with a vlogger Thom Causer, has the possibility to become more than just long distance flirting, if she can figure out how to tell him that she's a romantic asexual.

[Book Review] Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

Three friends, two love stories, one convention: this fun, feminist love letter to geek culture is all about fandom, friendship, and finding the courage to be yourself.

Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, chosen by readers like you for Macmillan's young adult imprint Swoon Reads, is an empowering novel for anyone who has ever felt that fandom is family.

[Book Review] Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

Radio Silence is about Frances Janvier, a high school student who mostly is known for spending most of her time studying. She is seen as pretty boring and uneventful to her school friends, and she is pretty content with that. Even if she's not boring at all because after school she goes home and does fan art for a YouTube based podcast she loves called Universe City. She gets an email from the creator of Universe City, Radio Silence, asking her if she'd be interested in doing some art work for the podcast. Frances finds her life becoming anything but boring when she starts to become good friends with Aled Last. Especially when she finds out that he is the creator of Universe City.

[Book Review] The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.

There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?

[Book Review] The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera

3.5 STARS 

The Education of Margot Sanchez is about our main character Margot Sanchez. She's a fifteen year old Latina teenager who "borrowed" her parent's credit card to buy herself new clothes. After getting caught she is forced to work at her parent's supermarket to pay off the money she stole. She goes to a preppy school where she feels like she has to follow and change herself to fit in, which means putting herself in situations she wouldn't have been in originally. She decides she needs to just stay in her parent's good graces in time for the biggest beach party of the year and she doesn't have any intention of letting her family or Moises - a boy she meets collecting signatures outside the supermarket- stand in her way of that party.

[Book Review] Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World edited by Kelly Jensen

4 STARS

This is a collected book of short essays, art, and poetry about different types of feminism and what it means to that specific writer. Some of the writers that I recognized when I picked up this book were writers like Kody Keplinger, Mindy Kaling, Roxanne Gay, Melinda Lo, etc. There are forty four contributors to this collection which I think helped shape and define feminism even more with the different perspectives.

[Book Blogger Hop] March 17th-23rd

 Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop's purpose is to give bloggers a chance to discover and follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend bloggers, and gain followers. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end on Thursday where there will be a weekly prompt following a bookish question.

Question:
Do you read a lot of diverse or own voices books? Why or why not? 

[Book Review] The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

5 STARS 

Sometimes you read a book and you know that it's one that will be considered as classic literature years down the road. The Hate U Give is one of those books. I know for a fact when I re-read this book or even just discuss it with other people I am going to notice new things and learn more. I hope this book is placed in every high school library.

The Hate U Give follows Starr Carter, a sixteen year old woman of color who lives in a poor neighborhood but goes to a rich suburban prep school. She juggles these two separate worlds and finding herself conflicted on how she feels like she has to present herself depending on where she is and who she is with. Her world is shattered when she witnesses her childhood friend Khalil get shot by a police officer. She struggles dealing with hearing her prep school friends saying Khalil had it coming and hearing the news call him a thug while accusing him of being a drug dealer and gangbanger. Protests and riots start to form and with an investigation going on, Starr has to make the decision between staying silent and speaking up for what is right.

[Book Review] History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

4.5 STARS

"I'll never understand how time can make a moment feel as close as yesterday and as far as years."

 

History Is All You Left Me follows our main character Griffin in two different times in his life, "History" which is his past where we follow his relationship with his ex boyfriend Theo. How they came out to each other, how they started dated, and why they ended. Then we have "Today" where we follow Griffin after Theo dies in a drowning accident and he's dealing with Jackson, Theo's boyfriend, being in town for the funeral. This story's themes include grief, coming out, self discovery, forgiveness, and love.

[Book Review] Ash by Malinda Lo

3.5 STARS

Ash by Malinda Lo is a Cinderella retelling with a lesbian romance instead of the heterosexual romance normally portrayed in either the original stories or any retellings of the story. I heard about this book by the BookTuber Riley Marie who described it as a fairy tale story she would have loved when she was younger because she would have loved seeing a romance between two women when she was still learning about her own sexuality. Riley's raving for this book had me interested in the book because of a few reasons.