Reading, Writing, and Me

May is going to be one of the most amazing months for YA in a while. A giant chunk of my most anticipated TBR list is coming into the world, and I have so many ARCs to get reading and preorders to get excited for. It's perfect timing since my semester wraps up on May 10th. After that, it'll be all books all the time between reading all of these, working at the bookstore, and blogging here! I can't say I'm mad about it.  So that you can connect with all these awesome books and authors, I've linked to the book's pages on their respective author website. Just click their names to find all the buy links and official summaries!  Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan May 4th Karina has always lived her life by her parents rules. Sure, it's not very exciting, but it keeps her life quite stable. She doesn't have any grand plans for her parents' four week international trip until Ace, one of the students she tutors, presents the opportunity for something...

  It's Kind of a Cheesy Love Story  by Lauren Morrill Overview: Beck was born in the bathroom of a pizza place. And, of course, that story has defined her for the last sixteen years of her life. She did get free pizza and the promise of a job she isn't sure she wanted out of it. Finally old enough to cash in on that job offer, Beck begrudgingly takes the job, but it turns out the pizza place might have been what was missing from her life. Overall: 3.5 Characters: 3 The characters were interesting enough. Beck is pretty naive, but she has a satisfying arc as she realizes that her school friends have always been kind of shallow. She finds a genuine friend group with the misfits who work at the pizza place. While she's always appreciated Del, the owner, she still begrudged the Pizza Princess title that's followed her around. The essential story is her growing into that title and accepting her whole life and story. Part of that is also realizing her first crush wasn't a...

  Normal People  by Sally Rooney TW for the Book: Assault/SA/Abuse/Disordered Eating/Suicide/Suicidal Thoughts Overview: Connell and Marianne have always weaved in and out of each other's lives. Having a close relationship but never being an official couples has led to plenty of turmoil and awkward situations as they try to form a tentative friendship as they navigate university in Dublin. Even though they date other people and never seem to be able to fully commit to each other, there's something unshakable about their bond. And over months and years we watch them drift apart and back together, like a gently rolling ocean wave. Overall: 4 Mixed Feelings Doesn't Even Start To Explain How I Feel About This Book Characters: 3 I don't even know how to start talking about the people in this book. These characters baffle me. The book is incredibly passive in its approach to just about everything, and that's mostly lead by the characters. Connell and Marianne can't ha...

  Follow Your Arrow  by Jessica Verdi  Overview: CeCe and Silvie are truly couple goals. Or that's what everyone who ships #ceivie thinks. Until Silvie breaks up with CeCe. Not only is CeCe heartbroken, but she's also dealing with how to address it with her nearly a million followers on the ominously named "app". CeCe is also navigating how to balance sharing her political beliefs with her fear of internet backlash. And to complicate things further, she starts dating a guy for the first time ever (a fact that she keeps from her followers). If you love influencers, books with bi girls, or pondering the pros and cons of the internet, you'll probably like this one. Overall: 3.5  Characters: 3 I'm craving more character development. Silvie is a junior in high school and an influencer with a stable family and her life together. CeCe is also a junior and an influencer. They rose to fame together, and their relationship definitely helped that along. They gathered man...

Once Upon a Quinceañera   by Monica Gomez-Hera Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC so I could share my honest thoughts with all of you! Overview: Carmen hasn't graduated high school, even though it's the summer after senior year. When her senior project fell through, Carmen has to scramble to complete the project over the summer. That means no college (not that she applied) and no future plans beyond becoming a Dream (floating around in a Belle costume at children's parties) with her best friend Waverley. So maybe it's not the summer Carmen wanted, but it's fine. At least until her ex-boyfriend who ruined everything, Mauro, also shows up on the team and then they get assigned to work her nemesis and younger cousin's quinceañera, which becomes the big event of the summer. Nothing ever quite goes to plan for Carmen, does it? Overall: 4 Characters: 4 I enjoyed hanging out with Carmen for a while. She's super witty and cynical in a way that I...

It's already April! School has been super super hectic, and I'm starting my old job as a bookseller again, so I haven't had much time for reading lately (ironic, I know), but I did want to talk about some books coming out in April that I can't wait to read (one day) that might inspire you to pick them up. I particularly can't wait for My Epic Spring Break Up! It's been on my list for a while now (I mean, look at that cover), but I also found some new books that hadn't been on my radar while browsing around the internet that I wanted to bring to your attention.  Let me know in the comments what April books you can't wait for!  Zara Hossain Is Here by Sabina Kahn  April 6th Zara has lived in Corpus Christi, Texas for a while. She's always dealt with the Islamophobia that's rampant in her high school, but when the star football player gets suspended, Zara becomes the target of a racist attack by the rest of the team that puts her and her family'...

Laurie Devore is stopping by the blog today to talk about her new book from Imprint, A Better Bad Idea , which is out now! This mystery/thriller/romance fusion is Laurie's third book, and it's a new twist on her usual contemporary YA stories. For this guest post, Laurie talks about crafting morally gray characters that your readers will still feel attached to and cheer on. Here's her best writing tips:  I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of what people will do when they’re pushed to their brink. While my new novel, A BETTER BAD IDEA, may seem like a departure in some ways from my previous novels, I actually think their DNA is quite similar. The stakes are higher, but as ever, this book is about girls making unimaginable choices because of their circumstances, whether self-inflicted or not.   I’m constantly thinking about what it means to write morally gray characters, and I think the main takeaway from me is that I’m just much more interested in what people do and w...