B- Reviews / Book Reviews / C+ Reviewsadvice / Black characters / Black culture / caregiver burnout / cultural history / dating / Detroit / high-school / POC / POC author / radio DJ / recluse / sexual-assault / Writer / YA / YA romanceNo Comments
Dear Ebony LaDelle, I don’t t recall how your debut Young Adult novel came to my attention, but I liked the eye-catching cover and the premise sounded interesting. A bit gimmicky (a high school boy tries to get a girl to fall in love with him in three dates) but ... more >
Book Reviews / DNF Reviews#ownvoices / Bangladeshi-American / Contemporary / depression / diversity / emotional abuse / high-school / Muslim / parents / South-Asian / Tashie Bhuiyan / YA2 Comments
Dear Tashie Bhuiyan, Last year I enjoyed your debut, Counting Down with You, a YA contemporary about a Bangladeshi-American high school student’s struggle with anxiety, demanding and controlling parents, and falling in love with a white boy. I liked it enough to request an ARC of your second book, A ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviewsanimals / bisexual heroine / Captivity / child abuse / environmentalism / fox / Graceling Realm / kidnapping / Kristin Cashore / political intrigue / queen / romantic-elements / sex positive / YA / YA fantasy4 Comments
Dear Kristin Cashore, I consider myself a fan of your YA fantasy even though not all of your books have worked for me. I really liked Graceling, the first book in the Graceling Realm series, did not much care for Fire but loved Bitterblue, and Jane Unlimited, a book separate ... more >
B Reviews / B+ Reviews / Book Reviews / C Reviews / Reading Listsbisexual hero / Black heroine / diversity / gay hero / LGBTQIA+ / m/m / POC / POC author / political intrigue / rock band / romantic-elements / singer / Supreme Court / thriller / YA2 Comments
If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich After enjoying Sophie Gonzales’s 2021 YA novel, Perfect on Paper, I decided to try this one, also YA, since it had been recommended by Dear Author commenter Susan S. Like Perfect on Paper, If This Gets Out has queer characters, ... more >
B+ Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Readsadvice / bisexual heroine / epistolary / friendship / hidden identity / high-school / LGBTQIA+ / love triangles / relationship in trouble / Relationships / Sophie Gonzales / YA6 Comments
Dear Sophie Gonzales, Perfect on Paper was a finalist in the Goodreads Awards YA Fiction category and I thought it sounded interesting and different, so I picked it up. (A warning to readers: the blurb for this book contains spoilers and I recommend avoiding it if you don’t want to ... more >
Book Reviews / Top Ten Lists#ownvoices / angels / Best of 2021 / best of list / bonded-mates / class differences / enemies to lovers / f/f / Fantasy / Fantasy Romance / forbidden-love / friends-to-lovers / historical romance / horror elements / India-based world / Indian characters / LGBTQIA+ / m/f / m/m / magical school / military hero / missing persons / noir mystery / Opera Singer / paranormal romance / POC / POC author / redemption / reframing / teens / Urban-Fantasy / village / werewolves / widow / YA23 Comments
It’s a cliché to comment on how quickly a year has passed and in the Covid era the months sometimes pass slowly. 2021 wasn’t an easy year so I’m glad I found some great books to make it feel a little lighter. There weren’t an entire ten but I’ve had ... more >