Books and Sensibility

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Book Review : The Boy On The Bridge by Natalie Standiford

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  • Release Date : July 30th 2013
  • Genre : Realistic Fiction
  • Pages : 256
  • Publisher : Scholastic


Synopsis : Laura Reid goes to Leningrad for a semester abroad as Cold War paranoia is peaking in 1982. She meets a young Russian artist named Alexei, and soon, with Alexei as her guide, Laura immerses herself in the real Russia–a crazy world of wild parties, black-market books and music, and smuggled letters to dissidents. She must keep the relationship secret; associating with Americans is dangerous for Alexei, and if caught, Laura could be sent home and Alexei put under surveillance or worse. . . 

Nineteen-year-old Laura Reid has always dreamed of going to Russia.  She wants to experience the passion, violence and history of the nation’s past. When her studies bring her and a group of
American students to Russia it is hardly what she expected.

It’s 1982 and the Russia of her dreams and Communist USSR are not one in the same. Her days consist of dull classes, harassing gypsies, empty grocery stores and the constant reminder that her US passport makes her
an object of scrutiny and jealousy….

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Waiting on Wednesday Vol. 15

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Days of David Levithan : Boy Meets Boy

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What is Days of David Levithan ?

 

  • Release Date: Sept. 8th 2003
  • Publisher: Knopf 
  • Genre: Contemporary
  • Pages: 185

It’s pretty fitting to start my reading David Levithan with his debut novel Boy Meets Boy. In fact, Boy Meets Boy just released its 10 year anniversary edition which has an excellent Q&A with Levithan in the back and I’ll be referring to a bit.

As I was reading this Q&A I began to think about how this novel is pretty significant to the “YA canon”, if there is one. In a lot of interviews about this book  Levithan talks about how in 2004 there weren’t many books featuring queer teens, and if there were they usually leaned on the Bury Your Gay and the Gayngst tropes–that is a gay teen usually ended up dead or in another equally angsty situation at the end of the day. That’s not to say the intolerance doesn’t exist in the novel, but what Levithan  does is offer a new narrative, a story of hope for those gay  teens who never see positive stories about themselves.

Boy Meets Boy is exactly what it says on the cover. It’s about what happens when boy meets boy, but the plot is about if  boy can keep boy. At the National Book Festival Levithan called this a “dippy happy love story” and I think that is the perfect description.

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Book Review: Living Violet by Jamie Reed

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“Love indulged the masochist”

 -Jaime Reed, Living Violet

  • Publication Date: December 27, 2011
  •  Genre: Paranormal Romance
  • Pages: 304
  • Publisher: Kensington

He’s persuasive, charming, and way too mysterious. And for Samara Marshall, her co-worker is everything she wants most–and everything she most fears. . .Samara Marshall is determined to make the summer before her senior year the best ever. Her plan: enjoy downtime with friends and work to save up cash for her dream car. Summer romance is not on her to-do list, but uncovering the truth about her flirtatious co-worker, Caleb Baker, is. From the peculiar glow to his eyes to the unfortunate events that befall the girls who pine after him, Samara is the only one to sense danger behind his smile.But Caleb’s secrets are drawing Samara into a world where the laws of attraction are a means of survival. And as a sinister power closes in on those she loves, Samara must take a risk that will change her life forever. . .or consume it

 

 




Samara Marshall has never understood the attraction women seem to have to her co-worker Caleb Baker, besides his violet eyes, Caleb is pretty average. Yet all of the women who enter Buncha Books can’t keep their hands of him and when people start dropping dead in Samara’s hometown of Williamsburg, VA she learns that Caleb has his own secret; he is being possessed.

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Sense List Vol. 22

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TV/Film

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Waiting On Wednesday Vol. 14

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