[Book Review] How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

All seventeen year-old Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn't have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father.

Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But, united by loss, Eva also shares a connection with Maggie. As Grace's mother spirals downward, both girls must figure out how to love and how to move on.

[Book Review] Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Leah Burke—girl-band drummer, master of deadpan, and Simon Spier’s best friend from the award-winning Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda—takes center stage in this novel of first love and senior-year angst.

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic. An anomaly in her friend group, she’s the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.

So Leah really doesn’t know what to do when her rock-solid friend group starts to fracture in unexpected ways. With prom and college on the horizon, tensions are running high. It’s hard for Leah to strike the right note while the people she loves are fighting—especially when she realizes she might love one of them more than she ever intended.

[Book Review] Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

A searing #OwnVoices coming-of-age debut in which an Indian-American Muslim teen confronts Islamophobia and a reality she can neither explain nor escape--perfect for fans of Angie Thomas, Jacqueline Woodson, and Adam Silvera.

American-born seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There’s the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: attending a college close to their suburban Chicago home, and being paired off with an older Muslim boy her mom deems “suitable.” And then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school and living in New York City—and maybe (just maybe) pursuing a boy she’s known from afar since grade school, a boy who’s finally falling into her orbit at school.

There’s also the real world, beyond Maya’s control. In the aftermath of a horrific crime perpetrated hundreds of miles away, her life is turned upside down. The community she’s known since birth becomes unrecognizable; neighbors and classmates alike are consumed with fear, bigotry, and hatred. Ultimately, Maya must find the strength within to determine where she truly belongs. 

[Book Review] They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today.

Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

[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] Eliza And Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Trigger Warnings: mental health, anxiety, and suicide

Eliza Mirk is an eighteen year old senior impatiently wanting her high school career to come to an end. She focuses most of her time working on Monstrous Sea, a incredibly popular webcomic that she created anonymously a few years ago as LadyConstellation. She prefers her life online, she has two close online friends, a massive following because of her art, and she finds herself more at home with her sketchpad than she does with her family or anyone at school. Until a new boy at school motivates her to start living life off her computer and out of her sketchbook.

[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 Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Saenz

5 STARS

"Do you think the heart needs love to keep on beating?"

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life is about our main character Salvador (Sal) who is about to start senior year alongside his best friend Samantha (Sam). The year seems to go start off normally until Sal starts getting into fights, Sam's fighting with her mom has increased, and his friend Fito's home life is getting worse. Sal's always been certain of his place with his adopted gay dad and their loving Mexican-American family but now the history of his biological parents have started to haunt him.

[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] Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

 

TW: self harm and mental illnesses (ocd, depression, agoraphobia, and anxiety)

4 STARS 

Under Rose-Tainted Skies is a contemporary fiction novel written by Louise Gornall. It follows the main character, Norah Dean, who is a seventeen year old girl who suffers from OCD, agoraphobia, anxiety, and depression. She is constantly washing her hands, she can't eat certain foods, she's terrified of going outside, and she's scared that her mental illness will keep her trapped in her house forever. That feeling of wanting more, but being too scared to take those steps to achieve more, increase when a boy moves next door. There is one section of spoilers that I have italicized so please read carefully.

[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] A List of Cages by Robin Roe

5 STARS 

This book deserves ten million stars oh my goodness. I haven't had my heart broken and then slowly pieces back together in such a long time.

A List of Cages is about our main character Julien who is an orphan and living with his uncle. Julien is a freshman who keeps to himself for the most part, reads a childhood favorite book series on repeat, and eats PB&J sandwiches in a secret room at school during lunch. Until a senior named Adam, his foster brother from a home he lived in before being with his uncle, talks to him at school. Adam is determined to have Julien back in his life again, and Julien's secrets of what is happening in his home start to be revealed.

"If I really had powers, I could turn off pain the way I can shut my eyes. But I can't. I feel it. Skin doesn't get thicker. Instead, it remembers." 

This book is heartbreaking, but at the same really touching. There are sad parts, but there are moments of love, family, and friendship sprinkled throughout the story and because of those scenes you realize how attached you are to the main characters. It sneaks up on you and suddenly you're sobbing for Adam, Julien, their friends, and even Adam's Mom. I almost wish we had more scenes with her and Julien. You can tell she cares for him but because we don't have too many scenes with them together (either flashbacks or in the present) there isn't as big of a family moment between them. I do love her scenes with Adam though, their dynamic was really sweet. Her yelling at the TV during reality television/game shows had me laughing.

"The sick nervous feeling I had just a minute ago has disappeared. Instead I feel something warm spread through my body. People I love will be watching me. Their eyes like safety nets, I can't fall." 

I loved Julien. He was so sweet and innocent. I wanted to reach into the book and hug/protect him the entire time. I also loved Adam. He was such a humorous and loving character. I want more books with them just because they're so great. I really enjoyed that some of Adam's friends have their own personalities. The biggest ones being Emerald, Adam's crush, and Charlie, Adam's best friend. I really enjoyed Adam and Emerald's relationship. Although it's not the focus (the friendship of our two main characters has a stronger role - which I absolutely love) the few scenes you have with them together are really sweet. It's not over the top but instead it is subtle and real. When it comes to Charlie, I got really annoyed with him really easily because of how protective I was of Julien. You're supposed to, but the more you get to know him you realize he's a big softy. I found his motives to be realistic and I think they were done well writing wise. Because of the way your attachment to the characters sneak up on you, I found myself really protective of Julien the way Adam was so it was hard not to get annoyed with Charlie. Especially since we know Julien's secret and it makes you feel for him so much more. The scene where Charlie offers Julien a ride home had me in tears.

"Hate ricochets, but kindness does too." 

I don't want to give anything away, but the secret Julien is holding had me in tears. Every time it was brought up I found myself holding my breath. Wanting someone else to know, wanting Julien to be protected. Each of the scenes focused around it are written so powerfully that I found myself flinching. There's a couple moments of Julien remembering his parents tucking him in and asking him how many stars were in the sky and it always made my heart clench because they obviously loved their son.

"It's strange how many ways there are to miss someone. You miss the things they did and who they were, but you also miss who you were to them. The way everything you said and did was beautiful or entertaining or important. How much you mattered." 

I think this book is an important one. I want more young adult books with friendships being the main focus. I enjoy romance, but this is the kind of stuff that really gets to me. Robin Roe did an amazing job. I wanted to quote so many more passages. Highly recommend this to everyone.

Thanks for reading! 

Have you read A List of Cages by Robin Roe? Do you recommend any other books that focus mostly on a friendship versus a relationship?

[Book Review] More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

 

4 STARS

Before I start the review I want to add a TRIGGER WARNING on this book. It deals with topics like depression, suicide, self harm, and homophobia. Please read at your own caution and stay safe.