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

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them… all at once?

Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

[Book Review] The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and imagination.

As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief who could come to mean much more to Nix.

But the end to it all looms closer every day.

Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very existence.

For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.

She could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability, her own epic love.

[Top Ten Tuesday] Diverse Characters

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish. A prompt is given each week, and I hope to do it every week so I always have something going up on Tuesdays. This week I am talking about ten of my favorite diverse main characters. Like always, if I have a review for each book I'll link them!

[Book Review] Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine—Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

[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] Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

Ramona was only five years old when Hurricane Katrina changed her life forever.

Since then, it’s been Ramona and her family against the world. Standing over six feet tall with unmistakable blue hair, Ramona is sure of three things: she likes girls, she’s fiercely devoted to her family, and she knows she’s destined for something bigger than the trailer she calls home in Eulogy, Mississippi. But juggling multiple jobs, her flaky mom, and her well-meaning but ineffectual dad forces her to be the adult of the family. Now, with her sister, Hattie, pregnant, responsibility weighs more heavily than ever.

The return of her childhood friend Freddie brings a welcome distraction. Ramona’s friendship with the former competitive swimmer picks up exactly where it left off, and soon he’s talked her into joining him for laps at the pool. But as Ramona falls in love with swimming, her feelings for Freddie begin to shift too, which is the last thing she expected. With her growing affection for Freddie making her question her sexual identity, Ramona begins to wonder if perhaps she likes girls and guys or if this new attraction is just a fluke. Either way, Ramona will discover that, for her, life and love are more fluid than they seem.

[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] 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.

[Book Review] Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.