ST∆RDUST IN MY VEINS

My 5-star reads of 2020

Hi, yes, I have indeed risen from the death and am now writing this blog post. Why? I’m not sure. I just felt like writing it. So here we are, in the hell year that is 2020, writing about books again. I hope you are all okay, for as much as anyone can me in this time. I think the title speaks for itself so let’s just get into it. Girls Will Be Girls by Emer O’Toole We started off the year…

Let’s get into the haul! I bought 5 books on my last haul and 4 of those are feminist non-fiction. I also want to talk about some other non-fiction books I’ve been enjoying lately, so I’ll add those at the end!

The first book is Girls Will Be Girls by Emer O’Toole and this genuinely sounds like the perfect combination of all my favorite things in books. It’s a feminist book that’s also part memoir and part popular science (or at least it says it’s “academic” and there are references so I’m calling it pop science) and that sounds so perfect! It’s said to be funny and just judging from the blurb, I think I’m going to love it.

Men Explain Things To Me by Rebecca Solnit is an essay collection about feminism and apparently she wrote an essay with the same name that got really popular and it originated the term mansplaining. It sounds really good, plus the cover is absolutely gorgeous (the full effect doesn’t really show on the picture but it’s shiny and beautiful).

I got a copy of The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf which I hadn’t really heard of before but it’s apparently quite a classic feminist book because it was republished as a shortened vintage edition. So that’s the one I got. It’s really small and seems like the perfect size to bring along and read on the train! It’s about beauty standards and “the tyranny of the beauty myth, its oppressive function and the destructive obsession it engenders” so that sounds pretty serious haha

The Gender Games by Juno Dawson is a book I’ve had my eye on for a while since there seems to be a lack of the transgender perspective on feminism and this is exactly that! Juno Dawson is a trans woman and this is a memoir about her life and how her transness intersects with feminism. I can’t wait to read it!

Another book I bought is Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson and this one is very different from the others but it’s about something I’m really interested in. It is about guilt evasion and we dodge responsibility when we make mistakes (“I didn’t do it”, “it was their fault”, etc) and this is something that is so interesting to me! With my background in psychology and because there’s a chance I might be doing my master thesis on guilt evasion, I thought it would be a really great read!

I really wanted to talk a little about Shrill by Lindy West because I have never heard anyone talk about it before and it’s so damn good. I cannot tell you how much I loved it. It might even be one of my favorite books of this year. This is Lindy West’s memoir and it’s about her life as a fat feminist. It’s about body-positivity and fat-shaming and so much more and it’s really funny and Lindy West just knows how to capture her audience.

Girl Up by Laura Bates is another book I couldn’t recommend more. But maybe I’d recommend this more to younger teens, as it’s basically a guide to feminism for young girls into adulthood. It’s so inclusive and fun and empowering and it’s also just a beautiful book. It covers so many topics and honestly I wish my mom had given me this book instead of one of those “oh no, your body is changing” kind of books that is way to awkward to read and makes you die inside.

Lastly, I wanted to talk a little about You’re Never Weird On The Internet by Felicia Day. I knew a little about Felicia Day but not that much and now that I’ve read her memoir I just can’t help but admire her. She’s a total geek (like me) and she’s a feminist and she’s super awkward and funny and this is basically her story of how she built herself a place in the media-industry as an actress, creator and gamer.

What have you been reading lately? Anything I should pick up? What would you recommend me to pick up next?

When I returned from my vacation almost two months ago, I hadn’t posted in weeks (because I was away), and completely fell out of love with blogging. I worked a lot, because I wanted to make some extra hours before going back to uni, and I wanted to spend my free time drawing or reading, and didn’t at all feel like blogging. I just didn’t know what to blog about anymore. And then on top of that, I kind of fell out of love with YA (or at least a little) as I started reading more non-fiction, I found it hard to get excited about new books. Even books I’ve been anticipating for months, I feel ‘meh’ about.

I’ve been following bloggers who read almost exclusively YA, all my friends and mutuals read mostly YA, and I’m guessing there are some people with different tastes, but still overall, it’s mostly YA. You all probably read YA, because you started following me for a reason, I guess, and the thing is that I have been reading YA for the past two years almost exclusively and that’s what my blog has been about. So I know I shouldn’t let that influence what I post about, but what’s the point in posting about books you probably aren’t interested in? It just feels pointless? Or maybe that’s just all in my head.

I want to get back into reading YA and that’s why I wanted to write this post (also because I felt you deserved an explanation for my disappearance). I’m going to go through my goodreads shelves and find those books (mostly YA) that I was anticipating in the hopes it’ll somehow help me get more excited about them.

Picture Us in The Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert is a beautiful book about an Asian gay boy who lives in the US and it’s about family and love and relationships and it seems to be very emotional but a bit slow (according to reviews) but it sounds so good?? And that cover?? *dies*

Sadie by Courtney Summers is about (you guessed it) Sadie. Her friend gets killed and the story gets picked up by a radio dj who gets obsessed with finding out what happened. I am just trash for the entire concept of murder/mystery podcasts in book form (it’s the only reason I still want to read Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski).

Vengeful by V.E. Schwab is the second book in her duology and honestly, it doesn’t matter what she writes, I’ll always be excited to read it! I read Vicious earlier this year and absolutely loved it.

Summer Bird Blue is by the amazing Akemi Dawn Bowman and Starfish was one of the best books I’ve read, so I know this will be so good as well! AND it has an aro/ace-spec questioning main character and that makes me want to cry happy tears. It’s also about a mixed-race (Japanese/Hawaiian/white) girl who loves music!

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor is the sequel to Strange the Dreamer and that was just so well-written! Laini Taylor has such an amazing writing-style, and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen with my favourite godspawn.

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried by Shaun David Hutchinson, because if you haven’t been paying attention, I LOVE SDH’s books. They’re emotional, original, quirky and weird and ALWAYS very queer and I’m so down for this new book.

A Girl Called Shameless by Laura Steven is the sequel to The Exact Opposite of Okay aka one of my favourite books of this year and that’s enough reason for me to get really excited! The first book was so powerful and feminist and I just adore Izzy and the unique voice she has, I need more of that!

One Giant Leap by Heather Kaczynski is the sequel to Dare Mighty Things which is about a competition for young adults to go into space with an aro/ace/questioning main character (Indian-American) and it honestly feels like this was written for me. Though it had some flaws, I can’t wait to see where the story will take us.

The Disasters by M. K. England just sounds so good! It’s about a bunch of queer outcasts who try to do a heist in space?? Like can it get any better?? So basically what I gather it’s Six of Crows but set in space.

And lastly, but without cover, Not Your Backup by C.B. Lee. This is the third book in the Sidekick Squad series and if I owned this book right now, I would have read it right this second because it’s exactly what could get me out of this slump. It’s about kids with superpowers and everyone is queer and there’s a lot of POC rep and Not Your Backup is about one of the characters that is aro/ace/questioning and I’M HYPED.

Have you seen all these covers?? They’re so gorgeous!! This has definitely helped me remember why I love YA and I just wish I could have all these books right now so they can help me fall back in love but since the majority isn’t even out yet, that’ll be a bit hard… For now, if you have recommendations for what I should try to read next, let me know. I’m looking for something that is quite short and not too slow or lengthy, that’ll drag me in!

I have no idea if I’ll have the time to write more blog posts in the soon future, so I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep. If you want to keep in touch in another way, follow me on twitter (see sidebar) because I will be on twitter quite a bit (mostly to complain about homework).

Do you want to read any of these books? What book helped you out of a slump or made you fall (back) in love with a genre? Give me all your recommendations!

Review | The Art of Being Normal : More like The Art of Being Problematic (which this book was very good at)

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson is a book about two transgender teens, which deals with the matter – how do I say this nicely? – rather terribly. Let me tell you why.

I initially didn’t want to include this synopsis in this review because even the synopsis is terribly problematic – I really wish I had read it before buying and reading this book and had not just read the blurb on the…

For the upcoming few weeks, I have no idea what my blogging schedule is going to look like. I’m going to try to post twice a week, as usual, but I’m not sure I can manage to post on the same days as I always do since my work schedule is a little all over the place and I don’t know when I’ll be able to find the time. Anyway, onto my wrap-up!

Girl Up by Laura Bates – 4.5 stars – It’s kind of hard for me to rate non-fiction, but that said, this book definitely deserves a lot of stars. Girl Up is basically a guide for girls, mostly into feminism but also into puberty and adulthood. It’s focused on so many things, such as slut-shaming and body-image and it honestly did such a great job explaining (in a fun way) the basics of feminism. I also loved how it was so inclusive, with some feminism you see trans-exclusivity and a disregard for sexism against men (etc), and this book handled all these topics so wonderfully while also being intersectional. I just wish I had this book when I was a young teen!!

Rad Girls Can by Kate Schatz – 4 stars – This book is another feminist book, but a very different one from Girl Up. It’s a collection of badass girls throughout history and their stories. There were so many girls I had never heard of and their stories were so empowering and important! It was inclusive and intersectional and just so wonderful!

From Twinkle With Love by Sandya Menon – 3 stars – This was honestly a little disappointing. I liked When Dimple Met Rishi, but also found it a little disappointing, but this one was more disappointing to be honest. I thought Twinkle was just… annoying. She kept making the same comments over and over again about the popular kids (the “silk-feathered hats”) and the “groundlings” and keeps judging them and making bad decisions and while I realized it’s fairly normal for teens to be obsessed with popularity, I couldn’t help but be very annoyed by it.

The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik by David Arnold – 3.5 stars – As the title suggests, this book is strange. I didn’t quite know what I was getting into with this book and I’m honestly still a bit confused about it. It was just so weird?? I really did not see the plot twist coming and I’m not sure I liked the plot twist either. I just can’t seem to form a proper opinion on this book.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman – 4.5 stars – This was a reread and I loved it just as much as the first time around! I read this – what feels like – a long time ago, and I had forgotten quite a bit of the story and the characters and it was so lovely to read all about it again!

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee – 4.5 stars/5 stars – I was so lucky to have received an eARC from another lovely reader who wasn’t planning on reading it. This was one of my most anticipated releases of this year (and maybe ever). To be quite honest, I think I hyped it up a tiny bit too much in my head BUT it was still amazing and I loved it to pieces. Felicity is like my platonic soul mate and I related so much to her. It also has (just like The Gentlemen’s Guide) a lovely diverse cast! AND there is some amazing female friendship development and I just adored it!

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern – I once again don’t know how to rate non-fiction, but I found this book on Scribd as I was looking for something to read, and it was really fun! It’s basically about the author’s dad and funny situations and sayings. It’s also really short and I read most of it on my journey to Italy as my plane was delayed and I had not much better to do.

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson – 2 stars – Though I quite enjoyed the story, this book is terribly problematic and I’m honestly so disappointed. This book has 4+ stars on goodreads and I am petty so I’m gonna write a very ranty review soon.

The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde – 4 stars – After the drama that was The Art of Being Normal, I needed a queer cheer-me-up book and this was exactly it! I loved how it was about fame and queerness and I’m pretty sure the entire cast was queer, which was just amazing! It had two enby characters that I loved so much and I loved Em’s character development throughout the book. The only thing that put me off a little was how it was much more romance-y than I expected it to be. (I’m pretty sure I’ve now spoiled myself for Queens of Geek, because those characters were also in this book but oh well)

Vicious by V.E. Schwab – 5 stars – As expected, I absolutely loved this book. I wanted to wait to read it until I finally got myself that gorgeous collector’s edition, but I saw it on Scribd and couldn’t help myself. This book is so dark, so so so dark. It’s very morally grey and none of the characters are purely good or bad and you find yourself cheering for what probably would be the villain in any other book. I loved Victor and Sydney and Mick and also Eli (a little) and I can’t wait to read more in the sequel.

How was your month? Did you read any of the books I read? Or any other good books? How is your summer? Did you go on vacation?

This is going to be a really short post because I don’t have the time to write anything more than that. I’ll be leaving to go on vacation in half an hour so I’ll be going on hiatus. I will not have any posts until the end of July and maybe a little longer. And I will probably not be able to reply to comments either. So I hope you all will survive without me and have a great July!

P.s. I will…

Review | Dare Mighty Things : Asexual Space Nerd Competes to go Into Space

Heather Kaczynski’s book has a premise that might as well have come from my mind, because it’s just so perfect!

THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: You must be gifted. You must be younger than twenty-five. You must be willing to accept the dangers that you will face if you win.

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Gupta’s entire life has been leading up to this—the opportunity to travel to space. But to secure a spot…

Since it was Pride Month, I wanted to try to only read only books with LGBT+ POCs and I succeeded quite well, I think. Except, A Closed and Common Orbit which I started and have not yet finished, but does not have a queer protagonist (yet?) (which is odd because the first book in the series had so many queer protagonists… but I’m only 40 pages in or so)

A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena – I started this book before June began, and it’s therefore the only book that isn’t queer on this list (I mean, I should have probably thought of finishing it before or reading something else but yeah… too late now). I thought this book was really interesting and I loved that they talked a lot about rumors and how they affect someone. It’s set in Saudi Arabia and I thought that was really cool as well. However, it wasn’t as impactful as I would have liked, the message wasn’t as strong as I imagine it was intended.

Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault – I loved this book so much! It’s about a bigender aromantic thief/baker who tries to save witches and the biromantic demisexual police officer set on catching her. I have an extensive review here.

Style by Chelsea M. Cameron – Though I thought this story was really fun and cute, it really lacked conflict and plot. It was more of a (f/f) romance book than I would have liked and rarely anything about it was not related to romance or the characters’ sexual orientation. Review here.

It’s Not Like It’s A Secret by Misu Sugiora – I really liked the story, the main character is awkward and relatable and the intersection between LGBT+ and culture was really nice to read about, BUT there were a lot of aspects that really annoyed me and made me feel very conflicted. Review here.

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy – I suprisingly really loved this book! After reading Dumplin’ and not loving it, I didn’t expect to love this one so much! I thought it addressed some really good topics (fluid sexuality, poverty, racism, etc) and the story and characters were just so good!! Review here.

The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan – to be quite frank with you, I barely remember even what this book was about and I really struggled to even remember the main character’s name after only a week or so. I loved the concept and I liked the story but it fell a bit short for me. I should review this because it’s an eARC but I seriously don’t know how to do that.

The Five Stages of Andrew Bradley by Shaun David Hutchinson – This book didn’t blow me away as much as other of Shaun David Hutchinson’s books have done but I loved it nonetheless! It’s about a boy who lives in a hospital, who then meets another boy who comes in with burn wounds. It’s a bit about them getting to know each other but it’s also about moving on and grief and tragedy. And like any of Hutchinson’s books, please check the trigger warnings, because his books are quite heavy.

Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski – I feel like this book was made for me?? The concept was just exactly like something I would write or love to read! It’s about an asexual (and I argue is also aro-spec) Indian-American teen who competes to go to space. Partly, I loved it, partly I didn’t. I’m just a bit conflicted but I did really enjoy it?? But also not that much happened and the ending was.. I don’t even know how to describe it, but I was actually in shock when that plot twist happened. I’ll write a review for this soon, I hope.

Some books I didn’t finish:

Tell Me Again What A Crush Should Feel Like by Sara Farizan– I didn’t finish this and won’t finish this because I heard it was very biphobic and I don’t want to waste my time on a book I didn’t love that also is problematic

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera – Again a book I didn’t finish and probably never will. This book just made me very uncomfortable. It’s about a lesbian Latina girl who learns about feminism and I don’t really know what the rest of the plot is about. Anyway, the book starts off with transphobic very white feminist language. I was told it would get better but I didn’t even get to that point because there was a coming out scene that was so incredibly painful I just didn’t want to continue anymore. It wasn’t bad, but when I read a book I kind of want to escape bad things and not be faced with them. It just didn’t work for me at all.

How was your month? Did you read any of the books I read? Have you got recommendations for me? Especially if it’s non-fiction (I now read mostly light memoirs by famous people and that’s kind of it, so I’m open to new things!)

Now that I’ve gotten the cheesy stuff out of the way, let’s get into the tag. It’s almost halfway through 2018, so it’s the perfect time to look back at what I’ve read in the past six months. I’ve read about 60 books (I’m writing this in advance so I can’t go any more specific than that but check my goodreads if you want more details), and loved the large majority of them! I’ve discovered some new favourites and overall had a great time reading!

I was tagged by the lovely Ruby, go check out her blog here!

The best book you’ve read so far in 2017

I’ve had added only two books to my “favorites” shelf, but I always struggle with picking my favorites. I always love books a lot but never so much that it really sticks out from the other books I loved. Anyway, I’m going to go with… I CAN’T CHOOSE. I’m just gonna pick two because they were both personally really important to me and also really fun!

  Your favourite sequel of the year

Obsidio!! Okay, it wasn’t perfect but I love that series with all my heart (seriously, it broke it so many times, I think it just tricked me into thinking I love it). The new characters were a bit meh but I liked them nonetheless and *screams “Kady” into empty space*. I just have so many feelings for this series, and Obsidio was a pretty darn good conclusion!

A new release that you haven’t read but really want to

Let’s Talk About Love has been on my TBR since I first heard about it and I just need to read it. I just need to get my act together and buy myself a copy of that pretty thing and read it. It has an ACE POC MC (I’m pretty sure she’s also biromantic)!!!

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

So last year my most anticipated release for this question was All The Crooked Saints and I still haven’t read it oops. Let’s hope it’s different this time. I’m just gonna make a little list because I honestly have too many to just pick one!

First and foremost: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee- If I die before I read this book, someone better go to my grave and read it to my dead body because there ain’t no way I’m missing out on this book. It has the epic wonderful aro-ace Felicity as main character and my babies Monty and Percy better be in there. ALSO: SCIENCE GIRL GANGS, HELL YES.

others: Vengeful by V.E. Schwab (I still haven’t read the first book but shhhh I will), Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman, Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor.

  Your biggest disappointment

I can’t really think of any one book that stood out, but perhaps The Opposite of Loneliness because I thought it was just very boring. I more often than not do not finish books I don’t enjoy so if I picked from those it’d be Stalking Jack the Ripper though I only read about a quarter of that. (rant review here)

Biggest surprise of the year

My biggest surprise was probably Far From The Tree by Robin Benway because I went in with no expectations whatsoever and ended up absolutely adoring it!

Favourite new to you or debut author

Ashley Herring Blake (new to me) and Laura Steven (debut)! I’ve read ARCs of both of their 2018 releases and now I definitely need to try and read everything they’ve written or will write!

  Your new fictional crush

I don’t do crushes.

New favourite character

Felicity Montague from The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue!!! I just relate and look up to her so much!

A book that made you cry

I don’t remember if I read anything that made me really cry, only books that made me cry because I was laughing so hard (The Gentlemen’s Guide) or because they were hurtful…

A book that made you happy

I’m really trying not to mention The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue for every question so let’s go with something else. Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee and the sequel Not Your Villain both made me really happy! They’re just so sweet and uncomplicated without being boring at all!

  Your favourite book to movie adaptation that you’ve seen this year

I saw Love, Simon a few weeks ago and loved it!! (except the ending)

Favourite book post you’ve done this year

The most popular post I’ve done in the past 6 months was this one which is about ARCs and alternatives to Netgalley, and as much as I enjoyed doing the series on ARCs with a focus on international reviewers, those are not my favourite posts! My favourite is definitely my post about Simon Spier and the rise of LGBT+ stories. I absolutely adored the response it got and I got to interact with a lot of lovely people and hear their stories and it was wonderful! I’ve been wanting to do more similar posts but I lack the inspiration.

The most beautiful book you’ve bought/received this year

I actually haven’t bought that many physical books (I read a lot of ebooks and audiobooks) lately but here are some of my highlights:

  What are some books you need to read by the end of the year

My TBR is very plain right now, I’ve been ignoring it for a while and barely ever add books to it but I’d like to read Queens of Geek and Let’s Talk About Love (and all the before-mentioned books I’m anticipating of course).

  Did you do this tag? What was your favourite read of 2018 so far? Do you agree with any of my choices? Do you have a favourite post you’ve written this year? Let me know! I’d love to read it (if I haven’t already)

Discussion | Romance in Media, Aphobia & Happy Endings

I wanted to talk a little about something that’s personal to me: I’m aromantic and asexual. In case you don’t know what that means, it means I do not experience romantic or sexual attraction. If you want more info, I wrote a post about aromanticism here, I hope that answers most of your questions. What I want to talk about is how romance is portrayed in media and how harmful it can be for aspec…

Mini Reviews | It’s Not Like It’s A Secret and Style : Two F/F books

Both of these books are f/f books and therefore I thought it’d be fun to review them together!

(more…)

The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson

Girl finds out she has healing powers and then the apocalypse happens.

Rep: bi MC of Cuban descent (also: Islamic character, depression, questioning/aro/ace character)

The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

Life is all fun and games until you’re sent on a trip to “mature” and also fall for your biracial best friend (while growing up in racist Victorian England)

Rep: bi MC, biracial (black+white?) LI, aro-ace character (not named on page but pretty clear from context), m/m ship

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody

Girl needs to find her mother in the City of Sin and finds herself becoming allies with a gang lord.

Rep: bi black MC (also: some minor queer characters)

Future Leaders of Nowhere by Emily O’Beirne

Two girls fall in love at a summer camp about leadership.

Rep: biracial (I think she was part Native-American, sorry I can’t for the sake of me remember the details) lesbian MC, bisexual MC.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Group of teens try to pull of the biggest heist in the history of heists while being completely badass.

Rep: gay MC, black bisexual MC (also: brown MC (from a fictional country reminiscent of India), fat MC, disabled MC, and rep of learning disability, touch-aversion, PTSD)

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

Snow white retelling about family and how the evil queen became evil (and actually wasn’t that evil).

Rep: sapphic MC (also: sapphic LI)

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

Artsy fangirl is asked to make art for her favourite podcast, becomes friends with the creator and learns to be herself.

Rep: biracial (Ethiopian/white?) bisexual MC (also: demi-ace character, gay character, Asian character, m/m ship)

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

Lesbian girl finds herself questioning her sexuality when she develops feelings for a boy and also has to deal with her pregnant sister, several jobs and living in poverty.

Rep: lesbian/questioning/bi MC (also: black LI, f/f and m/f ship)

None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio

A girl learns she is intersex which shifts her entire world.

Rep: intersex MC

  The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Rosemary joins the crew of a spaceship filled with wonderful people that quickly become like family to her and goes on adventures through space.

Rep: I genuinely can’t remember most of the representation because there is so much of it and it’s been a while, but I do remember this: sapphic MC, f/f ship, enby MC and side characters, POC characters, possibly pan characters? (also: some of the characters are not human and there are inter-species relationships etc and I don’t know how to categorize that)

Have you read any of these books? Did you enjoy them? Which books would you recommend?

By the way if any of the terms I used are unclear, feel free to ask me (but google is also always there to answer all your questions and google probably knows better than I do :P)

Review | Ramona Blue : Swimming, Small Towns, and Fluid Sexuality

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy is a standalone contemporary novel and I listened to it on audio.

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…

This time the books I have randomly picked from my mug are: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (suggested by Ellen @alittlebooklife), The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (suggested by Nadwa @BookishHiraeth) and How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake (suggested by Caro @bookcheshirecat). I wasn’t intentionally picking queer books but I have to admit I was seriously considering doing an queer-only edition. And then I picked 2/3(?) queer books so I just went with it! (I actually thought The Sky is Everywhere was also queer but it’s not shelved as such on goodreads so apparently not).

How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Expectations: I think I will most definitely love this book. I read Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake a month ago and I absolutely loved it! I have high expectations for this one!

Experience: So this girl called Grace is with her mom in her car, driving somewhere… maybe they’re moving? Oh, they’re  going to her mom’s boyfriend called Pete (this is like the most stereotypical “mom’s boyfriend” name ever wow). I think they’re moving in?? But Grace has never met him???

It’s that cliche “my mom’s a serial-datist and I hate it” daughter thing, I think, thought this seems like a very serious version. Which mom would drag her daughter to live with a guy she has never met? That’s just weird.

Verdict: The first chapter wasn’t very impressive but it has made me curious about what is up with Pete and why on Earth her mom would do such a thing. That, plus that I was already interested in reading it and loved Ashley Herring Blake’s other book has made me definitely interested to reading it!

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Expectations: I have heard about this book, and I’m pretty sure it has something to do with myths… But that’s about all I know. Oh and that it’s queer. I’m not a big fan of mythical things, and I’ve never even thought about picking this up even though I’ve heard amazing things about this.

Experience: So someone’s father married the MC’s mother and they don’t know each other before the wedding and I quote “If she were ugly, there were always slave girls and serving boys.” Uhm, what?? If he didn’t think she was pretty enough, he’d just hook up with his servants???

The author is mainly just setting up the story and talking about some kind of games (the Olympics?) that are taking place. Also the main character’s father (I still don’t know his name) is a bit of an ass and thinks he’s not good enough.

  Verdict: It has taken me way too long to read these 4 pages, I just kept being distracted which says probably a lot haha. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either and some things made me very uncomfortable (the first paragraph above and the fact they’re talking down to the mother who is “simple” which I think means she has Down’s Syndrome?).

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Expectations: A long time ago, way before I discovered the book community online and only scrolled through tumblr every now and then, I read I’ll Give You The Sun by the same author, and didn’t like it… Though I’m curious if I’d think the same if I reread it now, but maybe trying something else by the same author is a good start!

Experience: This first chapter was very short and was basically only about Gram (grandma?) who thinks this houseplant reflects the main character’s  wellbeing. And now that the plant has spots, she thinks she’s not doing well. (which kind of makes a lot of sense considering her sister died four weeks ago??)

  Verdict: I have no idea what to think. I’ve read too little to make up my mind but I’m too lazy to read more (it’s late-ish, okay?). Anyway, let me know if it’s any good (even if I didn’t like I’ll Give You The Sun). 

Have you read any of these books? Or are they still on your TBR? Do you think I judge too harshly? Which one(s) do you think I should read?

Review | Baker Thief : badass queer characters and an exploration of aromanticism (#ownvoices review)

Baker Thief is a book I’ve been anticipating ever since I first heard about it a few months ago and I’m happy to say it didn’t disappoint at all!

Adèle has only one goal: catch the purple-haired thief who broke into her home and stole her exocore, thus proving herself to her new police team. Little does she know, her thief is also the local baker.

Claire owns the Croissant-toi, but while her…

I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman

Trans boyband member meets Muslim fangirl and struggles with mental health, fame and fan culture.

Rep: trans male biracial MC, female Muslim questioning MC.

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Sarcastic fat bi girl falls for best friend’s girlfriend and has to survive her final year of high school.

Rep: female bisexual MC, black female LI, gay side-characters, f/f ship, m/m ship which is not the main focus of the book. (WARNING: companion sequel to Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda)

At The Edge of The Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

A boy’s boyfriend disappears and nobody remembers him oh and also the universe is shrinking.

Rep: male gay MC, m/m ship (also: depression). Check content warnings before reading!

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

Bisexual boy falls for (teen) writer in writing class and decides to write an autobiography.

Rep: male bisexual MC, male Mormon LI, m/m ship.

Far From The Tree by Robin Benway

Three siblings find each other after 15 years and find out what it really means to be family.

Rep: lesbian MC, f/f ship (also: biracial (Mexican/white) MC, growing up without parents/in the foster system, teen pregnancy, adoption, several m/f ships).

Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Omsbree

A girl’s Anna Karenina retelling web series goes viral and she comes to terms with her asexuality.

Rep: asexual MC (two mlm side characters), m/f ship.

Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee

Daughter of superheroes accidentally starts working for villain and also falls for the cute girl that works there.

Rep: bi Vietnamese-Chinese MC, f/f ship, black trans character (also: the second book in the series is about the black trans character).

Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody

Magical girl (“illusion worker”) has to solve the murders of her family members (that she created with her illusions).

Rep: a-spec LI (in my opinion it’s demiromantic asexual but it’s not said on page), m/f ship (also someone said on goodreads the MC is bisexual but I did not even realize that while reading so it might not be true).

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

After Mara’s twin brother is accused of rape, her life falls apart and she doesn’t know who to trust anymore.

Rep: Bisexual MC with undiagnosed PTSD symptoms, genderqueer LI (also: Korean-American character), f/gq ship, m/f ship. Check content warnings before reading!

Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Gay boy tries to hide his identity but gets blackmailed and is also in love with his online penpal. (I swear it’s better than it sounds)

Rep: gay MC, several “LIs” including a bisexual boy and black boy, m/m ship (also: Jewish character).

Have you read any of these books? Did you enjoy them? Which books would you recommend?

By the way if any of the terms I used are unclear, feel free to ask me (but google is also always there to answer all your questions and google probably knows better than I do :P)