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Book Review: Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon

September 30, 2020 6 Comments

Unrated | 384 pages | Simon Pulse | Contemporary | Release Date: 2/18/2020

Of Curses and Kisses is an introspective slow cooker ( I saw this term on Twitter and I couldn’t wait to use it !) of a romance about Jaya, a reserved modern-day princess at St. Rosetta’s International Academy. She’s on a mission to take down a rival family’s heir, Grey Emmerson, for a slight against her sister. It’s a lofty goal, but Jaya discovers instead of being a fierce rival, Grey Emerson is a broody, introverted outcast.

We follow Jaya as she is entrenched in Rosemont drama, this book is genre-savvy and Emerson sees through Jaya’s start-a-fake-relationship-and-dump-him plan so the initial premise of the book is dropped pretty quickly. The book is a lot of Jaya and Emerson working through their emotions and coming to terms with who they want to be versus who their families expect them to be.

Pages: 1 2

Book Review : Salty, Bitter, Sweet by Mayra Cuevas

September 23, 2020 2 Comments

Rating: Unrated | 320 pages | Blink YA | Contemporary | Release Date: 03/03/20

Mayra Cuevas debut is a coming of age novel for fans of decadent food and charming European cities. Seventeen-year-old Isa has a passion for French cooking, which has kept her afloat now that she has left Chicago for the scenic coastal city of Nantes, France with her father and his new wife–the woman he cheated on her mom with.

The situation is a little awkward but it’s all worth it when Isa is accepted into a cutthroat culinary program where failure is not an option. She is determined to keep her focus– even if her family’s new charming young house guest proves to be a bit of a distraction.

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Book Review: A Love Hate Thing by Whitney D. Grandison

September 20, 2020 Leave a Comment

Rating: Unrated | 448 pages | Inkyard Press | Contemporary | Release Date: 01/07/2020

This book has a lot of mixed reviews and I think part of it is because it has a premise I thought we left behind in the early 2000s. You know– a kid from the hood is dropped into an affluent neighborhood where he finds redemption and peace through writing.

In A Love Hate Thing Tyson Trice is taken in by family friends after a horrific tragedy and reunited with his childhood best friend Nandy. Nandy wants nothing to do with Trice and makes snap judgments about him because he was raised in the hood, while Trice sees her as the spoiled popular girl who only thinks of herself. To rekindle their friendship these stubborn teens have to get past their prejudices and learn to trust each other again.

Pages: 1 2

Book Review: The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper

September 6, 2020 2 Comments

Rating: Unrated | Bloomsbury YA | Contemporary YA | Release Date: 02/04/20

I feel like there is a generation of teens from upper-middle-class families growing up in trendy artsy gentrified neighborhoods who, like all teens, have issues but are privileged enough to know how to ask for help and can easily find it. I feel like this is a book for these kinds of teens– and I think without this understanding this book can come off as a bit insufferable.

Brooklyn bred Cal Lewis Jr. has found a niche for himself as a reporter on the social media app Flash Fame (Think Periscope meets TikTok). He’s covered local news, elections, and America’s newest obsession —NASA’s manned mission to Mars. The last thing Cal expects is for his dad to be chosen to join the mission. Its good-bye, Brooklyn! Howdy, Texas! As this reporter becomes a part of the story.

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