★★★

Audiobook Review: You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan

October 22, 2017 Leave a Comment

Release Date: 06/07/16 | Contemporary | 6 hours 36 minutes

When a series of happenstances bring high schoolers Mark Rissi and Kate Cleary to the same bar during San Francisco Pride, they form an instant friendship and navigate a night of unexpected twists, anxiety, unrequited loves exploring what it means to have people who know you well.

I’ve been reading a lot of “quiet YA” and this book is probably the quietest YA to ever quiet. I mentioned that my last book, Gem and Dixie was a quiet YA but I can at least point to a turning action in that book while You Know Me Well just moves dreamily along, as we follow Kate and Mark through San Francisco Pride Week. This book started off slow and to be honest I almost DNF’d, but LaCour and Levithan do such a good job developing their characters and side character that over time I was drawn in.

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Audiobook Review: Saint and Misfits by S.K. Ali

October 19, 2017 Leave a Comment

Release Date: 07/11/17 | Contemporary | 8 hours 5 minutes

High school sophomore Janna Youself feels like a misfit; at home she’s boxed out by her brother and mother’s relationship, at school she’s the only hijabi Muslim. In her mosque’s youth group she is surrounded by perfect Muslim saints–including Farooq. Farooq is held up as a golden boy but what no one knows is he’s really a monster who tried to sexually assault her.

We follow Janna through the last weeks of her sophomore year and at the heart of the book is Janna learning how to open up about her sexual assault. There is a ton going on in this book; including an Islamic quiz bowl competition, Janna’s crush on a non-Muslim, bullying from mean girls, her brother’s sudden engagement, her parents divorce and also a there’s a new boy at the mosque who’s caught her attention.

Audiobook narrator Ariana Delawari has this great bright, sharp voice that fits the nervous energy of Janna but she does read slow, this was the first time I’ve ever listened to an audiobook at a faster speed.

This book is from Salaam Reads, an imprint at Simon & Schuster created specifically to publish Children’s/YA featuring positive portrayals of Muslim characters.

Saints and Misfits is a voice-y, coming of age story and I’m curious to see what debut author Ali does next.

Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab (Monsters of Verity #2)

August 29, 2017 Leave a Comment

Release Date: 06/13/17 | Urban Fantasy (Horror?) | 10 hours 32 minutes | Harper Audio

Trigger Warning: Violence

I’m going to warn right at the top that this book is violent AF. While violence is a central theme in the first book, it is relentless and borderline disturbing in this sequel. Sexual violence or anything never comes up in this series but there is just like a lot of throat ripping. Like a lot.

On Twitter Victoria Schwab described Our Dark Duet as being the second half of a whole but this duology felt like it was missing a book to explain how our characters went from high school students on the run to rough and tumble monster fighters. Especially concerning August Flynn who goes from bright-eyedWoobie who wants to be human to a stoic badass. It was like watching the original The Fast and The Furious movie and then immediately watching Furious 7 when they were all suddenly jumping cars through skyscrapers.

Speaking of The Fast and The Furious franchise that is exactly what this book felt like. The plot was muddled, a lot of characters carry Idiot Balls and the whole thing probably could have been solved with a text message chain but all that said… I was just swept away in Schwab’s cinematic storytelling, breakneck action sequences and creative set pieces. Look, I’m not sure why characters are suddenly using call signs and August is getting around by jumping from skyscrapers but you know…Rule of Cool.

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Audiobook Review: Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner

August 24, 2017 Leave a Comment

Release Date: 03/03/17 | Contemporary | 10 hours 45 minutes

17-year-old writer Carver Briggs believes in the power of words, but he never imagined a few words, written in a text, would kill his three best friends.

Goodbye Days opens with Caver at the last funeral for Sauce Crew–the nickname for his friend group. From there the book is almost a little too prescriptive as Carver has a final day with each of Sauce Crew’s family members sharing and learning about the sides of his friends he never knew. The time between the goodbye days is punctuated with some mini-plots plot about Carter facing possible manslaughter charges, therapy session and his budding relationship with, Jesmyn, a Sauce Crew member’s girlfriend.

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Audiobook Review: Perfect Ten by L. Phillips

August 1, 2017 Leave a Comment

Release Date: 06/06/17 | Contemporary(ish ?) | 10 hours 4 minutes | Listening Library

17-year-old Samson Raines is ready to get back in the dating game but his options are limited, seeing as he’s already broken up with the only other gay boy in his school. He reluctantly turbs to magic (er, magick ?) for a little help. With a list of 10 traits for a perfect boyfriend and a Wiccan spell, Sam’s life is about to be turned upside down.

I picked this book up because the slightly zany romance plot and gay-story-not-about-coming-out synopsis gave me early David Levithan vibes. But I had such a hard time investing with this book and it’s mostly because I really could not with Sam, the main character. He was an arrogant, snobby hipster and as these super hot boys with these big personalities start falling for him it’s just hard to see what they see in him, especially when one of them is a 21-year-old rock star.

This book follows a lot of the same beats as genre romance, so for me Sam didn’t get enough redemption to earn his HEA. The development of the supporting characters felt underwhelming because at the end of the day they only exist to prop up Sam. And now that I think about it literally every character’s HEA gets shafted for Sam to get his HEA.

Kirby Heyborne is a favorite narrator of mine for his youthful voice and emotional deliveries. He brings out full range of male voices for each of Sam’s suitors although he struggles a bit with a French exchange student.

It look like L. Phillips has a 2018 book in the works that is described as #AlexfromTarget meets queer Prince Charming. Now, L. Phillips is the psuedonym of author Laura Wettersten, and I think it’s really curious that she is using a gender ambiguous penname to write these books and It feels a lot like what is happening in the world of M/M romance where books about gay boys arewritten mostly by and for straight women. There are just a lot of unfortunate implications.

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

July 13, 2017 Leave a Comment

Release Date: June 4, 2013 | Contemporary YA | 453 Pages | Viking (Penguin)

It’s the summer after high school graduation and 18-year-old Emaline is doing what she always does; working at her family’s beach rental business, spending time with her boyfriend Luke and having general ennui about what it means to live in the summer town of Colby, North Carolina. You know, the standard Dessen fare.

But summer’s never go as planned and Emaline finds herself mixed up with a crew of New York filmmakers making a documentary about Clyde Conaway, a reclusive artist who lives in Colby. And if that isn’t enough her estranged biological father is suddenly back in town.

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