Reading, Writing, and Me

Bad With Money by Gaby Dunn
Overview: Gaby gained online popularity through YouTube and her time at Buzzfeed which later lead her to create the podcast, Bad With Money. After the success of her podcast, she decided to take what she's learned and turn it into a comprehensive, personal finance memoir that could simply lay out the basics in language that people as confused and scared about money, like herself, could easily understand. This book quickly takes you through all your major financial moments from high school till your death. Overall: 4

I think the value of the book to you is really dependent on if you've heard or plan to listen to the podcast, particularly season 3. I found the book through the show and then got it from my library to see what else she had to say. Unfortunately, the book doesn't go much beyond what happens on the podcast. Most of the experts referenced are the same people who are on those specific show episodes with the exact same quotes.
In some are…

I'm so excited to introduce my first repeat author for Into YA! Jennifer Dugan is back on the blog to chat about Verona Comics, one of my favorite books of the year (and probably all time). If you've followed my blog for any amount of time, you probably know about Verona Comics by now, but if you want a refresher or some context for our conversation, check out my review of it here.
Also, if you're curious about my first interview with Jennifer about Hot Dog Girl, you can find it here.  And if you want to get a copy of Verona Comics or learn more, here's a link to her author website with all the links.

1.I absolutely love that Verona Comics is such a clear nod to Romeo and Juliet. Did you set out to write a modern retelling? You explore and contextualize a lot of the more toxic elements of the original story. Were there any major changes that you had to make to Shakespeare’s outline to make it fit YA today?   
I actually didn’t go into Verona Comic’s with the idea of mak…

My Eyes Are Up Here by Laura Zimmermann
Overview: Greer's life has been governed by body insecurity. She hides in XXL sweatshirts to try to take her chest out of the conversation. It doesn't stop the cruel jokes, the pain, the logistical nightmare with sports, and the impossibility of finding a dress that feels made for her. Over the course of her sophomore year, she starts to test the self-imposed limitations as she gets closer to the new guy, tries out for the volleyball team, and takes her voice back from society and her body image constraints. Overall: 4

Characters: 4 Greer is such a fun main character to follow. She is sarcastic and has a worldview that really matches my own, so we clicked quickly. She's a realist with a streak of idealism. A lot of identity comes from her braininess as she leads all her classes, and she uses it as a way to compensate for trying to pretend her physicality doesn't exist. This emerges for a wide variety of societal pressures that is u…

I can't believe that June is over. It's been a while since I've written one of these recap posts, but I wanted to update everyone on some exciting news and generally what's going on with the blog. I didn't write a recap for May, but I ended up getting pretty burnt out at the end of the month, and I took a little break. I was glad that I decided to take that time for myself and reevaluate what I want my relationship with blogging to be. I've gotten much better at pacing myself and also only focusing on the parts I truly enjoy and am passionate about.
This month, I've put out some content that I had a ton of fun making, and I'm excited about July's schedule too. I have two amazing author interviews coming up (with Jennifer Dugan and Lyla Lee!) along with some reviews of books I've loved and some great discussion posts. It's nice to have a lot of the posts ready to go already so that I have more time to focus on other projects. I've done a …

Can you believe it's almost July? I'm shocked that June is coming to a close. Just like last month, June is packed with an amazing set of books that I can't wait to start reading. We're also starting to see some of the spring books that got pushed because of COVID come out, and I'm so glad that these authors are getting that chance, even though conditions are still less than ideal. I've been waiting for most of these books since I seriously started blogging again back in March, and I'm so excited to finally start reading them. I wanted to share a quick list of some of the books I'm most excited to read over the course of the month. I have ARCs for all of these, so expect reviews coming soon. I just started I Killed Zoe Spanos, and I'm already sucked into its atmospheric, mysterious world. 
As always, preorders, especially now, are so important for supporting authors. Many of them are offering fun preorder incentives if you send in your receipts. I&#…

Last week, I shared all my favorite recent releases with bi main characters. A lot of you commented and shared your favorites as well, and it was so fun to learn about some new books! As Pride Month comes to an end, I wanted to make one my post to celebrate. Today I'm talking about my favorite books with Aro, Ace, or Demi representation. Again, I've found it tricky sometimes to find books with this specific representation, so I wanted to share in case some of you are looking for new books! This is a quick, little post, so if you want to add more books to it, just leave a comment!
Tash Hearts Tolstoy By Kathryn Ormsbee I've been a huge fan of this book since I first read it a couple years ago. It was the first book I ever read with ace rep. Tash is such an intelligent, lovable character, and the friendship story is also strong too. Even as she achieves career success with her scripted YouTube series, she's still navigating what her identity means to her, and being open ab…

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver 
Overview: Ben is nonbinary. The book opens with them working up the courage to finally come out to their parents. Even though his parents are religious and conservative, Ben feels like it might be okay. Mostly, they feel like they can't keep living with a secret that big. They want their parents to know them fully. Instead of love and support, they get thrown out of the house. Ben calls their older sister who they haven't seen in ten years, but she shows up right away. As Ben transitions to living with their sister and her husband, they have to navigate a brand new school, a new family situation, and a new therapist all at once. While it's a lot to process, Ben comes out stronger, healthier, and happier on the other side. Overall: 5 

Characters: 5 Ben and I have honestly nothing in common yet I found them so incredibly relatable on a minute detail level. We have a ton of similar thoughts and reactions and just life philosophies, which…

You might have noticed that I haven't reviewed any nonfiction books lately. I tried incorporating my new reading interests with my old love of YA, but it never quite felt right to post it all at the same time. I know that most of you are just here for the YA stuff, and that's totally okay. I had plenty of posts over the last couple months, so all my nonfiction reviews kept getting bumped off the list in favor of more YA content. Since I still wanted the blog to grow with me, and I wanted to cover these books, I wanted to throw all of the books I read over the last couple months into a single post.
So, if you're also a nonfiction lover, here's a quick recap of my recent reads on tons of different topics to inspire your next choice. 
What to Eat When
by Michael Roizen, Michael Crupain, Ted Spiker This was a quick listen. I wrote a review on it a while back, but I wasn't sure if that's something you'd really be interested in reading, so I thought I'd put it …

I'm so excited about this list and the upcoming list on Aro/Ace/Demi rep because I feel like these areas of representation have grown so much recently. I also feel like it's harder to find these identities on specific lists or super easily, so I wanted to share some of my favorites for those of you who are seeking them out. I've made book rainbows for Pride Month and made general lists (which you can find here), but I wanted to do something different this year. I didn't want to repeat the same list, and I also realized I don't have a complete rainbow of LGBTQIA spines anymore after getting rid of most of my books. This list is by no means exhaustive, but I picked a couple of my favorites that I wanted to spotlight. To learn more about each book, click the title to read my full review.

Verona Comics  by Jennifer Dugan This is one of my new all time favorite books (which I'm extra pleased about because my expectations were sky high from waiting well over a year). …