I want to start out by saying how ASHAMED I am that I did not know about Brandy Colbert before reading this book. When I looked her up after finishing, I recognized most of the titles (and they are in my library) and I just haven't read them yet. She just landed on the top of my TBR list! The Voting Booth was amazing, insightful, and delightful. I absolutely loved the story line and the detailed characters. I picked this book from Netgalley because of the black characters and the fact that it was a romance. I have been following the #blackvoicesmatter movement within publishing a lot recently and noticed some authors talking about that publishing was only interested in trauma- which rightfully so can be very difficult to write. I wanted so desperately to read a book from a black perspective that also focused on 'joy.' Marva and Duke are amazing together; even if they only met a few hours ago. Marva is very passionate about voting and voters rights. She will be voting for the first time in this election and wants to be the first one there. She has been working tirelessly for months to get people registered to vote and so many more efforts- the day has finally come. Duke on the other-hand accidentally woke up late, but is still stoked to vote for the first time. But he wants to make sure it doesn't interfere with his band gig tonight. When he gets turned away from the polling station, Marva wants to make sure that he does end up voting- even if it means driving him around town to get it done. It is a day filled with confusion, excitement, heartbreak, activism, and friendship. I loved every minute of reading this dual perspective narrative. Both Marva and Duke are so realistic and show how blackness looks differently for everyone. There is not just one black or mixed experience. The spirit of civic duty and teamwork is rampant in this book, and I would not have it any other way! This book comes out July 7th (less than two weeks- WHOO!) and it will definitely be a must buy!
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I am not really sure how to start out about this book- mostly I have mixed feelings. Sara Shepard is such a big name and has a big following with the success of Pretty Little Liars and the Perfectionists. I was a relatively big fan of Pretty Little Liars both the book series and TV series. I think that it was truly one of the first of its kind to capitalize on how easily a book series could be transferred to a TV show instead of a movie. I think that they were beyond successful with it- which in some ways made this book difficult to read. Sara Shepard and Lilia Buckingham wrote a fictional work of what it is like to be an Instagram Influencer. So you get all of the drama and intrigue of their lives under the camera 'filter' but also add some murder and mystery to the mix. There were many times that this book lagged- when reading the Kindle version from Netgalley the murder did not even happen until nearly 75% in. This was disappointing to me because I felt like it would just become another Pretty Little Liars series that they can write a billion books in and enjoy. This was my assumption, and while I am not sure I was wrong, I don't think I was 100% right either. The end of the book does end on enough of a cliffhanger for them to continue the book series if there is enough demand (which I am sure there will be). But the book does also tie up the loose ends enough for it to be a good stand alone novel as well. The characters that Lilia made up and the plot that Sara put together will end up being a winning combination. I know plenty of young girls and boys who will love this story. I loved the 3 main characters, and the multiple point of view narrative style. I think this will be another hit to add to both Sara Shepard's resume and one of many firsts or Lilia Buckingham. In regards to if I will purchase this book for my school library- time will tell. This book comes out in Jan 2021 which gives me time to see how many of Sara Shepard's books are circulating and to see how many requests I get. Amy Noelle Parks new novel The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss was an absolute delight to read. This science and math driven romantic comedy will be a great read for all nerd out there (and non-nerds will like it too!) This novel follows Evie and Caleb who have been best friends who grew up next door to each other. They currently both attend a very prestigious Math and Science Boarding school together. They have a very "complex" relationship. This story is told from both Caleb and Evie's point of view; which allows a very personal insight into their relationship and their interactions together. Evie has very intense anxieties and phobias that prevented her from going to a prestigious conference last year; but she has been working with her therapist dutifully and feel like things are getting better. Caleb has always been in love with Evie, and knows everything about her. She has never shown romantic interest in him- hence the 15 and counting almost-kisses. Suddenly, she gets her first boyfriend and things get even more complicated. This story shows an accurate depiction of mental health struggles, complex (and sometimes dependent) relationships, and math genius. I think it reveals the inner strength of those who struggle with mental illness and those who love them. This is a quirky and adorable story that will pull at your heart strings. The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost-Kiss by Amy Noelle Park will be out in January of 2021! I Killed Zoe Spanos is the type of thriller that pretty much anyone could love. This story trails a twisted journey of Anna who doesn't quite remember everything correctly. She has had a bad habit of drinking too much and blacking out in the past. She has decided to take a summer nanny job to give herself a fresh start- to get away from bad influences and be the person she wants to be. I will say that this story was slow at the beginning and took much longer for me to get into than most YA thrillers that I read. First, the introduction to the two differing points of view was muddled, that it took me a little bit too long to sort out in my mind. This was a bit frustrating as a start, but once I made it about 40% through the book- the rest flew by. When I first began and it seemed to be taking me longer than expected, I told myself that I would get the book through 40-50% before I considered abandoning it. I am so glad I gave it more time because by the time I got to that point I was hooked. Honestly, this book is filled with twists and turns that I did not even anticipate. I really enjoyed seeing how the other half lives in the Hamptons, and get into this mystery. At times it was a slow burn, but just because the fire starts slowly, sometimes those fires are the hottest. I Killed Zoe Spanos comes out SOON (Jul 1st, 2020)! I would not miss it if I were you! So first I will start with, I did not expect this to be an adult novel- maybe I just didn't pay enough attention to the description (oops). But despite this being an Adult novel (more specifically - New Adult), I really liked it. This book follows the traditional YA romance format but with more diverse and new circumstances. Melody has just traded up to a new job from an Ad agency to being a junior producer in a video game design company. Melody experiences major anxiety, racism, and sexism in this role. She is put to task to create a new video game (that she technically came up with while making fun of traditional first person shooter games) in 6 months (a nearly impossible timeline) with very little resources. She is expected to fail- But failure is not an option for Melody. Especially, because it is expected to fail because SHE is in charge. This novel shows the sexism and racism many women face in the video gaming community. Oh, AND there is a hunky guy who is her age who happens to be her intern. So add in the temptations of inter-office romance. This novel was a pleasant surprise and I really enjoyed reading it. This is a book that I would definitely consider adding to my High School collection as an adult crossover book. The age of the characters could definitely be a benefit or a detriment when adding to a school library collection. Melody does use foul language, but not any worse than any YA book I have in the collection. By following the YA romance format, where we leave the main couple on a high end note without really seeing anything more than a date or two or some making out- I think that this would be an easy piece to integrate into a collection. Loathe at First Sight by Suzanne Park comes out August 2020! I think this book might be my new favorite. It combines all of my favorite things: books, food, love and bonus (my favorite movies). This book has the romance and gushy feels of my two favorite movies as a teen- You've Got Mail and Sixteen Candles. The book store love and feel of the plot just reminds me so much of Kathleen Kelly and her awkward cuteness- more importantly vast love for books. There are definitely some really adorable romantic scenes that rival the birthday scene from Sixteen Candles- also, the main male's name is Jake (coincidence- I think not!) Now to the actual book.
I Loved this book- it was cheeky and delicious to read. The type of book that just makes you curl up in a blanket with your coffee and enjoy all of the warm and fuzzys it gives you. It makes you say the statement "I love love" so much you almost want to just smother your family and significant others with all of the love and affection you feel you have been missing. This book is a coming of age story with a Bad ass Jewish girl with two moms and zero qualms about how much she loves her life. Until she notices that things have been a little off in her house- much more hushed fighting and closed doors. Then when she goes into work, Once Upon a local bookstore, she meets the Joe Fox to her Kathleen Kelly. The non-reader to her bibliophile. With her stress mounting and having no where to call her safe place anymore, she starts making some rash decisions that she might regret. Shoshanna might make some regrettable and miraculous decision in this book- but if you read it, I promise you will do anything but regret it! That is if you love cheesy romances like I do! Recommended For You comes out September 2020! It will be on my list for this years purchases- I would think it will be for you too! BLM- We can't let History repeat itself anymore- The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed6/11/2020 The Black Kids is Christina Hammonds Reed's debut novel and I believe it will become as popular as Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give debut novel. This book shows how history repeats itself if we do not actively work to improve our world. The Black Kids follows Ashley, a black kid in a rich neighborhood and school, that doesn't quite feel like she fits in anywhere. She realizes her childhood friends like Kimberly are not as supportive as she needs right now as riots and protests break out in Los Angeles. This story follows Ashley and her family in 1992 just after Rodney King had been beaten to an inch of his life by several uniformed officers- and caught on tape. When the officers are acquitted, Los Angeles breaks out in protests and riots because of the racial tensions and injustice that has been mounting. This story is a coming of age historical fiction novel focusing on how some of our history has come back to repeat itself. As readers, it makes us wonder the essential question right now- Is anything different this time? What can we do different this time to make lasting change? I chose to read this book because of my need and want for understanding and to be able to get a glimpse into what life is like for the black kids I work with and the adults that desperately need understanding and support right now. This book was particularly difficult at times to read because it felt too similar to what is going on right now with the Black Lives Matter Movement. It felt like I would read for a while, about events that happened the year I was born, then watch the news or get on Twitter and see it all over again. It was important to read and I enjoyed it, but I had to take frequent breaks because it felt like my heart was breaking all the time. This is a feeling I think needs to be embraced by the readers- because it is SO important that we make sure that it ends different this time. We need to make sure to keep pushing for all of those unwarranted deaths of innocent black lives are the fuel to our fire unrest. I believe that this book will be so influential and important in our time. We (white people) need to be able sit in the uncomfort and see how we can change and improve the world for black lives. Look to the black voices like Christina Hammonds Reed, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Tiffany Jackson, and Jason Reynolds and many more to the path we all need to follow. The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed comes out in Augus 2020- it might just be the best thing published this year. Quarantine has been a bit crazy for all of us in the past few months. Overall, 2020 has not been terribly kind, but I believe that everything that is happening will help us all become better people and a better nation in the end. I suffer from generalized anxiety- so much so that I can work myself up into what I call a "doom spiral" and have to claw my way out. I knew that by staying home, I would suffer a bit more than normal because of uncertainty within my job and my husband's job that I had a lot of underlying stress that I had little to no control over. One of my biggest and most successful coping mechanisms is reading, it provides me with an escape, perspective, and something else to concentrate on instead of my overall feeling of dread. Sometimes I can take this to an extreme- read a book or two in a day (?) why not- just to avoid my own problems. So I wanted to share the books I read during this time that helped me keep my sanity. You will notice that many of these books are a bit lighthearted, as I realized soon after the stay at home orders began that I needed something that would make me feel happy. Some of these helped me put my issues in perspective- the idea that "well, Kaitlyn other people have it worse" made me stop self pitying and feel grateful. Others on this list were more about giving me an escape- something fun and dreamy to let myself enjoy. I have not finished all of these books as they are current.
I am considering back tracking and also reviewing some of the books above that I have already read! Respond to the poll below on if you would read these reviews. I have been a big E. Lockhart fan since college when I was assigned her for my YA class as an author study. I did not know much about her- I read a few of the boyfriend series books in high school. I fell in love when I read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks, which is still arguably one of my favorites always tying for first place. When I saw that E. Lockhart had a new book coming out, I knew I would devour it in a day. I was lucky enough to get an eBook galley through netgalley as I waited for my preorder to arrive at my door. I have liked a lot of her newer works as she leaned into the thriller genre. This book definitely didn't disappoint. First off, to E. Lockhart, thank you for writing a character with realistic anxiety- I felt seen. This isn't super important to the review, but it was super important to me as a reader. Adelaide's constant worry and continuous imaginings of other scenarios is hyper-realistic to someone who suffers from generalized anxiety. I really appreciated this. I also loved the fact that we got to revisit Alabaster the setting from Frankie Landau Banks. This book was genuine and funny- I described to a friend while reading it that living in Adelaide's mind was like living in the "darkest timeline" from Community but with all of the realism. I enjoyed the realism of what it is like to grow up with overwhelming concern for those you are about and what it is like to fall in and out of love- because sometimes you don't see the other person clearly. While this book is not a traditional love story, it shows the inner workings of the mind and the heart of a teenage girl in such keen and clear ways. While I did not get the same feeling- "this girl is a badass" as I have gotten from many of E. Lockhart's stories, I do believe that the author has delved into something real, raw, and remarkable which just makes her a badass! Again Again came out on June 2nd. I will be purchasing it for my library (wait it is already on my doorstep!) and it will be a top recommendation. I want to start with... supremely amazing cover. This is what attracted me to the book and the fact that I have been wanted to expand more into the scary and horror genre. This is a favorite genre for my students, but I tend to focus more on mystery, suspense, and thrillers. So as I began reading I kept this in mind.. What differences are there between a book being classified as horror/scary versus mystery/suspense/thriller? I found that most of my mystery ya novels tend to have a more developed back story and more movement involved- for example, centering on a town and the people in it instead of one scary night or incident. This book focused on Fright Night, a scary corn maze type attraction. It was told from several different point of views. I wasn't sure any of them were fully developed until the end. I found this book hard to focus on to finish. It felt a bit predictable - like I knew someone would die from the first introduction, and it would most likely happen during Fright Night hence the title. But everything that led up to those actual events were expected. I don't know if my trouble was that I am used to the mystery genre more which tends to have more twists and turns or if I didn't get invested enough in the characters. I think that I might buy this book for my library as horror is a top genre- but I am not sure it would make it to the top of my list of recommendations. Let me know what you think of Fright Night by Maren Stoffels when it comes out in the US in Sept. 2020. It was previously published in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2018. |
Kaitlyn R CarpenterWriter. Reader. Librarian. Blogger. Teacher. YA lover. Archives
September 2020
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