ARC Review: If I Was You Girl by Meredith Russo

Author: Meredith Russo

Genre: Young adult, contemporary, LGBTQIA+

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publication Date: May 3, 2016

288 pages, hardcover

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

This book. Wow. If I Was Your Girl is not only great because it is important (though it is SO important) but also because Russo has an easy, authentic, beautiful writing style that made me fall in love with this book and its characters. It’s a quick read but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to read. It’s difficult to read at times, but Amanda is an incredible, brave, and wonderful character and you really want to meet her.

I ordered this book as a physical book, e-book, and audiobook for my library because I really want everyone to read it. I think it is important for everyone to read it. I even convinced my very conservative, religious supervisor to read this one as an audiobook and she’s loving it.

However, I did have a few issues – mostly with the bit of instalove and subsequent not-as-developed-as-I’d-like relationship between Amanda and Grant and also the ending, which I felt was a bit rushed. The beginning was so developed and emotionally resonant that the ending didn’t feel as genuine, I guess?

The bottom line: HIGHLY recommended for EVERYONE.

Rating: I’m not rating this one because even though I had some issues, this book is so freaking important and everyone should read it.

ARC Review: My Seventh-Grade Life in Tights by Brooks Benjamin

Author: Brooks Benjamin

Genre: Middle grade, contemporary, humor

Publisher: Delacorte

Publication Date: April 12, 2016

293 pages, hardcover

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

My Seventh-Grade Life in Tights made me feel like this.

It’s a joyous, fun, light-hearted, sweet book. Dillon’s voice is absolute perfection; he really felt like a middle schooler that just wanted to be a dancer with everything he had. I loved all of the characters in this book, and I was rooting for them the whole time. The book is witty and full of life and humor. It’s diverse with a cast of interesting and wonderful characters. The kids are just that…kids. I think all of them felt like kids I could meet at my library, and I really appreciated that. The voices felt genuine and real.

I just want to talk for days about how much I love this book, but I’m just going to give you two more GIFs that I felt represent the way this book made me feel.

Also check out my super awesome M7GLiT tights that Brooks sent me! I’m obsessed with them. They are so comfortable. Check out this tweet from Brooks for your chance to win a pair!

You guys, @brooksbenjamin is the BEST at bookish related goodies! Look at these awesome & super comfy MSGLiT tights! pic.twitter.com/76haaELaUL

— Stefani (@StefaniSloma) January 9, 2016

The bottom line: M7GLiT is a really enjoyable, clever, funny book about being who you are and not letting anyone tell you otherwise. It’s full of so much life and you’ll just want to hug the book the entire time.

Rating: 8 – freaking fantastic

ARC Review: The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Author:  Heidi Heilig

Genre: Young adult, historical, fantasy

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publication Date: February 16, 2016

464 pages, hardcover

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

NOTE: I was provided with an e-ARC of this book via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Greenwillow Books for letting me read this!

This book, you guys. Heart eyes all the way over here. The Girl from Everywhere is full of magic and myths and beautiful writing. It’s got fantastic, strong, swoony characters and so much life. It’s magical – the story, the characters, the places, the actual magic. So so good.

I’ve got to start by talking about the world building which is utter perfection. Heidi is able to beautifully describe each of the (many) settings in such a way that they are all distinct. You can actually picture each of them, and this is a big feat. We’ve got New York, Hawaii, ancient China, a version of Africa only seen in myths.

And the characters are just as wonderful. Nix is independent and smart, and I was rooting for her the whole time. I loved following her on this journey, and I really appreciated her growth. I really loved all of the characters in the book (and I think that every single one of them was well-developed – like, seriously. I could picture them all), but after Nix, my favorite character is hands down Kash. You guys, Kash is bae. He’s from a fictional version of Arabia (it’s kind of impossible to not think of him as Aladdin), and he’s wonderful and swoony. But the best part to me? The romance wasn’t really the focus in this story. It’s there, sure, but not in the foreground, and I really appreciated that.

My favorite part though has just got to be the idea of travel like this – through time and space and myths and legends. It was absolutely fascinating, and I could read 100 more books like this and never get bored. There are so many places they could travel. I’m excited that this is the start of a series!

If I had to voice a small complaint, it would be that the book is a bit confusing once or twice because of the vast amount of information and stories we’re given. But it all makes sense in the end, and it obviously didn’t hinder my enjoyment much.

The bottom line: Read this if you like fantasy books. Read it if you like magical, amazing worlds and characters. Read this if you like great writing and fantastic stories. You know what?  Just read it, okay?

Rating: 8 – freaking fantastic

ARC Review: Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa

Author:  Kate Scelsa
Genre: Young adult, contemporary
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: September 8, 2015
368 pages, hardcover (356 ARC)

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

Shout out to the wonderful Little Shop of Stories for letting me take this ARC! Check them out if you’re ever in Decatur, GA!

I feel like the black sheep on this one. I was somewhat disappointed in Fans of the Impossible Life. I read it, yes, but I just feel kind of meh about it, I guess. I think one of the main issues I had was that it is really not at all about what you think it’s about. The very first line of the description made it out to be a bisexual love triangle between the three main characters (“This is the story of a girl, her gay best friend, and the boy in love with both of them”). It is not that. At all. It had some things I liked and that you don’t usually see in YA books, like the the switching of the different tenses for each point of view: Jeremy (1^st person), Mira (3^rd person), Sebby (2^nd person).

However, there were some things that rubbed me the wrong way: mental illness was somewhat romanticized, there was some lack of consent, and several destructive relationships and friendships. Also, for a story SO about mental health issues, they aren’t really ever addressed. They’re more brought up in a “Oh, I have this issue. I’m so damaged. We can bond over this.” kind of way, but that’s it. It was strange.

I felt like nothing in the end was resolved. The characters pretty much felt the same (or worse) than they did in the beginning, and no one really grew or changed. It almost felt pointless, like why did I read this? I kind of want to do a reread at some point to see if I feel the same way later, because I did really like some of the characters (Sebby, especially) and the idea behind it. I’m not sure though.

The bottom line: I really don’t know how I feel about this one.

ARC Review: Dream Things True by Marie Marquardt

Author:  Marie Marquardt
Genre: YA, contemporary
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: September 1, 2015
352 pages, hardcover (328 ARC)

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

NOTE: I was provided with an ARC of this book from the publisher as Marie was on one of the panels I moderated at the Decatur Book Festival. This does not influence my review.

Dream Things True is essentially a modern-day retelling of Romeo and Juliet but the boy is a white, upper-middle-class son of a senator and the girl is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. In terms of the characters, I really appreciated how flawed everyone was, because it felt real and relatable, even though my life falls nowhere near either of these characters.

I’m sure most of you won’t be surprised when I say one of my main issues was the relationship – because it developed WAY too quickly. There was a bit of instalove instalust almost right away, and it made me pretty uncomfortable. I think this took the focus away from the actual issues in the book and I would’ve appreciated a little less of the Romeo and Juliet inspiration here. I think the book could’ve benefited a lot had the (somewhat forced) relationship not driven the plot so much.

My favorite character is hands-down Whit. He was witty and smart, open-minded and oh-so-flawed, but that’s why I loved him. He was real. He stood up for what he believed in, and although he did some terrible things, he acknowledged what he’d done and worked towards fixing it. I also appreciated Alma a lot; she was honest and young and felt very realistic to me. I honestly probably could have done without Evan’s perspective though.

I appreciated the end of this one as well. Marie obviously knows what she’s talking about, and I think she did a great job of properly representing the tediousness of immigration and race and the issues surrounding it. I really respect the fact that Marie just presented the story as is – this is what happens and this is how our society is. I do feel like we could’ve gone a little bit deeper into some of the issues, however.

The bottom line: Dream Things True is a realistic, complex, dramatic, engaging story of immigration and young love. I had some issues with it, but I enjoyed it overall, and I would recommend it to fans of romantic tragedies.

 Rating: 6.5

Book Review: Slasher Girls & Monster Boys (ARC)

Author:  Various authors; stories selected by April Genevieve Tucholke

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Dial Books

Publication Date: August 18, 2015

385 pages, hardcover/ARC

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

Slasher Girls & Monster Boys was a horrifying, creepy, thrilling, strange collection of stories from some of the coolest YA writers out there right now. It was a perfect one to read during this time of the year, and I would highly recommend it for a Halloween read. I love that each of the stories are based on horror stories and movies, and it was really cool to try to figure out their inspiration or find out when I finished the story.

My favorite stories of the lot were:

Jay Kristoff’s “Sleepless” – a story that is sure to creep out anyone who’s ever spoken to someone on the internet and never knew who they really were. It’s full of unexpected twists and turns that are sure to surprise you. Although I knew where the inspiration for this one came from pretty quickly, it wasn’t predictable and was quite horrifying. I really want more from Jay Kristoff.

Nova Ren Suma’s “The Birds of Azalea Street” – Nova is so good at magical realism, and this story is no exception. I really like her writing style, and this one was decidedly creepy because it felt real even with the addition of the magical realism.

Carrie Ryan’s “In the Forest Dark and Deep” – Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, but oh so much creepier. It’s a terrifying story of monsters in the woods, mean girls, tea parties in the woods, and the terrible things that people…or creatures can do.

Marie Lu’s “The Girl without a Face” – I love that this one was inspired, in part, by the film Los Ojos de Julia, which is one of my favorites. You could really get that super creepy and eerie feeling from it. It’s definitely the most “traditionally” scary one of the whole collection. It makes you want to keep your closet door open and check under your bed. *shudders*

The rest of the collection is made up of some great stories as well, and a few that I could’ve done without. I was a little bored with Stefan Bachmann’s “M” and Cat Winter’s “Emmeline”, but was intrigued by A.G. Howard’s story inspired by Frankenstein. Overall, I really liked this collection, and I’ll definitely be rereading some of these at Halloween next year.

The bottom line: Add this to your Halloween TBR.

Rating: Each story has its own rating, but overall, I’ll give this collection a 7 – pretty good

Shout out to Dahlia Adler who sent me an ARC of this one.

ARC Review: The Rose Society by Marie Lu

Author: Marie Lu

Genre: Young adult, fantasy

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: October 13, 2015

416 pages, hardcover

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

Shout out to Brittany from Brittany’s Book Rambles whose giveaway I won and received The Rose Society from.

Expect a lot of caps lock in this review. This is what my immediate reaction was upon finishing this book and what I wrote as my Goodreads review:

I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS AND NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW BRILLIANT THIS BOOK WAS.

I’m still struggling to find the words to describe how much I loved this follow up to last year’s The Young Elites (which I also LOVED). It’s rare that I read a sequel that I find to be completely up to par with the first book, but this was. Plus, it’s darker and more devious and delightfully delicious. I devoured it and this one’s not even out yet but I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE THIRD BOOK.

I got chills after the two pages. That’s the mark of a book that pulls you in immediately and doesn’t want to let you go. I swear, if I had not had to go to work, I would’ve read it straight through, and do YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS TO GO TO WORK?

We’ve got to talk about Adelina, of course. Man, do I love her. She’s fierce, dark, strong, and decidedly stubborn. And in The Rose Society she takes it a step farther. She isn’t afraid to get what she wants, to fight for revenge, to be mean if she has to and bitter and tough. I love her. It’s refreshing to read about a main character who is, well…a little evil. She’s losing her mind somewhat, and that downward spiral is captivating.

This book will break your heart and make you crave more of it. And that ending. No spoilers, but it’s both deliciously satisfying and slightly enraging in that I NEED MORE NOW. I’m so pumped that my teens chose The Young Elites for our November book club read at the library.

Even though I was obviously obsessed with this one, this one felt more slow-burning than The Young Elites which was packed to the brim with action. I liked the focus on Adelina’s mental state, but I think TYE was a little more intense, if that makes sense.

The bottom line: If my review isn’t enough for you, I’m not sure how else to get my point across. READ THIS SERIES. You won’t be disappointed. In fact, you’re probably going to be completely enthralled, put under a spell that you won’t want to break.

Rating: 9 – practically perfect

ARC Review: Beastly Bones by William Ritter

Author:  William Ritter

Genre: Young adult, historical fiction, fantasy

Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers

Publication Date: September 22, 2015

304 pages, hardcover (291 ARC)

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

Shout out to the wonderful Emma aka Miss Print for being so kind and sending me her ARC.

Brilliant, wonderful, charming, witty, fantastic, fun, entertaining. Basically, think of any good word you want, and it can probably be used to describe Beastly Bones, the follow-up to William Ritter’s debut novel, Jackaby (which I read earlier this year and loved).

I think the best part of this book is how many layers there are; there are so many stories all woven together into one incredible book. Not only do we have the theft of the dinosaur bones, but there’s also a group of shapeshifting kittens, a mysterious monster, a murderer who may or may not be a vampire, and so many other delightful things. Honestly, delightful is one of the best words I can think of to describe Beastly Bones.

Abigail is just as witty and wonderful as in the first book. I love reading her narration – she’s clever and charming. I’m also a big fan of Jackaby; he’s just quirky enough and I know it may turn some people off, but he reminds me so much of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock, which I totally dig. We also get a few new characters in this one – namely paranormal creature trapper Hudson and nosy but fierce and independent reporter Nellie.

Beastly Bones opens up so many possibilities for future books – YES, THERE’S GOING TO BE MORE – and I loved the little bit of foreshadowing we get for the next book. I will say there were a few instances where I just wanted to yell at the characters because they were taking so long to put it together, but overall, I was completely into the story and I cannot wait for the next one – this is the main problem with reading books that aren’t even out yet. EVEN LONGER TO WAIT.

The bottom line: Three words – GIVE ME MORE! How about four more? Definitely a favorite series.

Rating: 8 – freaking fantastic

ARC Review: The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

Author:  Dawn Kurtagich
Genre: young adult, horror
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 15, 2015
432 pages, hardcover (401 ARC)

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

NOTE: I was provided with an ARC of this book through The NOVL’s newsletter in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for letting me read this!

The four best words I can think of to describe Dawn Kurtagich’s The Dead House are: Deliciously creepy and strange. More than two decades ago, Elmbridge High School burned down; several students were killed and one student, Carly Johnson, disappeared. 25 years later a diary belonging to Kaitlyn Johnson (supposedly Carly’s twin) is found in the ruins, but Carly didn’t have a twin. FREAKY, right? Is the incident at the school a result of dissociative personality disorder or something more…sinister?

If you’ve read the description of The Dead House, I bet you could figure out my favorite part of this book. It’s “made up of diary entries, interview transcripts, film footage transcripts and medical notes.” YESSSS! We all know how much I love books made up of alternate storytelling techniques, and this one has something I’ve never seen in a book before – film footage transcripts. How cool is that? One of Carly’s friends was doing a project for a class and had to film her everyday life, but as something strange starts to happen with Carly, she keeps filming – the transcripts each come with a still from the footage, and some of them were pretty creepy. In fact, I had to call it quits for the night one time because I saw one of the stills on the next page and was freaked out. The format made you feel like an observer or someone reading the case file of the Johnson Incident, and this made it somewhat difficult to connect with the characters. At first. After a while, I was super invested in what was going to happen to them. My main issue with the characters was with the boys, who fell flat for me. Most of them (even those that were integral to the plot) were uninteresting and somewhat formulaic.

It’s hard to talk about the book’s plot without giving too much away, as I think figuring out the mystery as you read is one of the best parts. So I’ll just say it wasn’t where I thought it was going, though I should have seen it coming. I was really into the story and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. This book explores all kinds of interesting and peculiar topics: psychology and mental illness, possession, witchcraft, violence (lots of violence).

The bottom line: If this is Dawn Kurtagich’s first novel, I CANNOT wait to see what she comes up with next. This book is innovative, haunting, and so very creepy. I had a few issues with some of the characters, but as I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what happened next, it obviously wasn’t a deterrent. I LOVED the format – the inclusion of so many different storytelling techniques. It was really well-done and so very cool.

Rating: 8 – freaking fantastic

ARC Review: Bream Gives Me Hiccups by Jesse Eisenberg

Author:  Jesse Eisenberg
Genre: Short stories, humor
Publisher: Grove Press
Publication Date: September 8, 2015
256 pages, hardcover

Check out the full synopsis on Goodreads.

NOTE: I was provided with an e-ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Grove Atlantic for letting me read this!

I don’t know about you, but anytime I see that an actor or musician or whatever has written a book, I’m pretty skeptical. I’ve read a lot of books by “famous” people that really should’ve stayed on that person’s computer. But I loved Jesse Eisenberg in Zombieland, Adventureland, and Now You See Me, and I researched him a bit and saw that he’s actually a playwright as well as an actor. So he had me intrigued, as did the summary of Bream Gives Me Hiccups. I thought, “Why not? I’m probably not going to get approved for this one anyway.” And then I did. And then I read the book. And now I need more from Jesse Eisenberg.

Okay, no, it’s not the greatest short story collection I’ve ever read, but I’m seriously impressed with Jesse Eisenberg’s writing ability. He’s obviously talented, and his stories are intelligent, funny, and well-written. I updated my Goodreads status after almost every story with my immediate and initial thoughts upon finishing each one.

Note that I used words like “hilarious” with almost every single update. My absolute favorite story was the very first one, “Restaurant Reviews from a Privileged Nine-Year-Old”. It was dry, emotional, and got me so pumped to read the rest of the collection. I do think they did a bit of a disservice by beginning the collection with what is obviously the strongest story, but I don’t even care. I loved this one.

Another favorite was “If I Was Fluent In…” I literally laughed out loud SO hard and loudly that a patron at the library asked me if I was okay. HA! (Not a spoiler, but if you do read, watch out for the Indian section of this story – LOL!) When I read short story collections, I tend to read a story here and there but not straight through. NOT with this one! I didn’t want to stop.

The bottom line: I’ve got to mention that there were a few stories that I honestly wouldn’t have missed had they not been included, but overall, Eisenberg’s collection is seriously funny, honest, intelligent, and engrossing. He’s obviously talented, and I’m looking forward to what’s next from him.

Rating: 7.5 – between pretty good and freaking fantastic