The Novice (Summoner #1) by Taran Matharu

 Book Review:

The Novice (Summoner book 1)

🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎/5🦎

I fully and freely admit that I read this book because an amazing boy (man really) I really like loved it and suggested it. I put aside other books to read it. And it also took me so very long to read if you look at the start and end dates because I spend many hours of the day talking to the aforementioned hottie which left a lot less time for reading. And for a change I’m not sorry for being distracted. 

But you want to know about the story right? Well, it’s really good! Fletcher is a good hearted young man who finds himself in a situation he never could have imagined surrounded by folks he never could have imagined knowing.  Othello is a great character and seeing where he ends up is a huge part of the draw. The twins are so damn awful and I have a terrible feeling they get worse as the story continues. The world building deserves mention here. I like the way it’s done as the story progresses, it flows so well. 

There are some messages weaved into the storytelling, like hey don’t be a racist. There’s a great Magic system and really interesting side characters. And the creatures/demons are so fabulously described!! 

I can’t wait to see what happens next.

(finished October 24, 2021)

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (Blood and Ash #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 Book Review:

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥/5🔥

Picking up right where From Blood and Ash left off, the second book in this series only made me love Poppy and Hawke so much more. And I love Kieran soooo much!! Even as I rolled my eyes over how obvious it was Poppy was in love but wasn’t able to see it, I loved it. 

There were some answers but a whole lots of questions still unanswered. 

I love the mix of fantasy world building that feels midevil but with modern touches thrown in. They talk about electricity and running water but horses and carriages are the mode of transportation used. 

I love the way the entire story seems to always come back to allowing a person, a woman, agency over her body and life. 

And I love the steamy, spicy bits. 💋💋🌶🌶🔥🔥

But oh that last chapter!! My heart is still pounding!! And I’m trying not to cry, and failing. 

I am absolutely, completely in love with this story and the way Jennifer writes.

(Finished September 5, 2021)

From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 Book Review:

From Blood And Ash 

🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸/5🩸

OMG!!!! Never have I ever been more surprised by how much I loved a book. I’ve spent so much time at work ordering parts of this series for people and being told by my regulars that I need to read. So I caved. And I fell hard for Poppy & Hawke. And I had my heart shredded. And the spicy bits were 🔥🔥🔥. 

I really think this is more fantasy than romance, though there is a romance. It just feels like the fantasy outweighs the actual romance, but whatever, it’s amazing no matter what bookstore shelf it gets placed on. The hype is well earned. 

The slow burn that turns into a raging fire right at the end, the drama, the world building, the morally gray character you can’t help but to love, the snarky moments, this one just really ticks all of the boxes for me. 

I’m only sorry I waited so long to jump on the FBAA train.

(Finished August 30, 2021)

Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked #1) by Kerri Maniscalco

 Book Review:

Kingdom Of The Wicked  

🧙🏼🧙🏼🧙🏼🧙🏼🧙🏼/5🧙🏼

I am so very anxious for the next part of the story. I’ll be honest, for most of this book I was thinking it was a solid 4, maybe 4.5 star read. Right until the last 20-30 pages when shit went sideways and I hadn’t seen it coming. And I loved it!! 

The journey that Emilia begins when her twin is brutally murdered is one fueled by the desire for vengeance and powered by magic. She then starts to learn that so much of what she believes isn’t the whole truth. And when she begins to suspect that Wrath isn’t just some Prince of Hell, that there’s more to him, she isn’t sure who to trust. 

Is she strong enough and does she have what it takes to become her own hero? She doesn’t quite seem to think so but as much as she falters and messes up, she grows along the way and that was my favorite thing about her. The character development over the course of this book has me filled with excitement to see what she does next in Kingdom Of The Cursed. 

And I admit I didn’t see the twists at the end coming.

(Finished August 23, 2021)

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

 Book Review:

A Spindle Splintered  

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀/5🥀

One of the perks of being a Barnes & Noble bookseller is we get access to ARCs. And that’s how I got my hands on this coming soon book by Alix E. Harrow.

The introduction letter describes it as Sleeping Beauty meets Spider-verse. That’s so spot on. It’s also an unapologetically kick-ass, queer, and empowering story. The shadow illustrations throughout are *chef’s kiss*. And it’s definitely a single sitting read clocking in at 119 pages. 

The story follows dying girl Zinna into a fairytale, her favorite, Sleeping Beauty. Also here are Zinna’s best friend Charm and Primrose, a Princess with no interest in Princes. 

The writing is snarky and badass. The story is beautifully different and full of lessons on agency and bucking the roles assigned to us and learning to be true to who we are. 

When this comes out in October make sure you grab a copy!!

(Finished August 19, 2021)

Slay by Brittney Morris

 Book Review:

Slay  

🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮/5🎮

This book was my blind date with a book I picked up when I visited my colleagues at 

Kiera is one of three Black students at her school, the other two being her sister Steph and her boyfriend Malcolm. It’s exhausting and they all handle it differently. 

SLAY is a virtual world that is a safe and amazing gaming space for Black players created by Kiera. It’s a space that values and respects and offers a freedom for players that the day to day world doesn’t give room for. And no one knows she is the creator, Emerald. 

When the world of the game spills into the outside world and a young man is murdered it puts the spotlight on SLAY and Kiera is going to have to defend her creation and those who have come to rely on this virtual world as a place of respite. Can Kiera save the space she has created from lawsuits and trolls? Who is Dred? And what about Malcolm and their relationship, is it healthy and what can she or does she want to do about it? 

A timely and important read. I don’t want to say too much more because I don't want to spoil the impact of the story and how it unfolds.

I will say that this is a must read!!!

(Finished August 14, 2021)

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 Book Review:

Mexican Gothic  

🍄🍄🍄🍄/5🍄

This is a book I grabbed after some of my regulars, a coworker, and Bookstagram put it on my radar. Is it worth the hype?

There are often times I find overly descriptive writing about scenery and such a but much. But here it works as a plot device. Everything on first glance looks like you’d expect a wealthy Victorian home to look. But then as we look closer through Noemí’s eyes it becomes clear how nothing is what it seems. Moldy books and walls, cracked tiles, layers of dust, peeling paint…possibly a haunted house, strange dreams and a very strange family. Noemí is strong, especially for a young woman in 1950. And she is stubborn and smart and I really liked her. 

This isn’t a long book, clocking in at 301 pages but it is a very slow burn for sure. At least for me it was. It’s outside of what I typically read but not completely beyond my interests. The story starts out with lots of setup and twists and then gets freakier and then for about the last 70 pages it becomes almost frantic in its pacing, with good reason. 

Trigger warning for some scenes of gore and attempted rape. 

A solid read and worth the time. 

(Finished August 12, 2021)

Amari and the Night Brothers (Supernatural Investigations #1) by B.B. Alston

 Book Review:

Amari and The Night Brothers  

🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩/5🎩

Long but please read. 

This is a middle-grade fantasy and was the overall winner of the Barnes & Noble Children’s and YA book award. Yes I still read middle-grade from time to time. A good story is always worth a read and as a bookseller it broadens my ability to help people. And an added bonus is that when I buy and read middle-grade books I then donate them to one of my many teacher friends classroom library. 

After reading so many YA and adult fantasy and high fantasy when I come back to a middle-grade I’m reminded, pleasantly, of the room for more fun and imaginative story telling. Magic has less boundaries and unbelievable situations aren’t as unbelievable. The sense of wonder and innocence of the intended audience makes for a joyful read, a brain cleansing after a long stretch of darker tales. 

Amari is a beautiful, strong, brave Black girl. She gets nominated to a magical summer camp by her now missing older brother. And that’s how she discovers magic and supernatural abilities and beings are real and among us. And she learns she has magic too, a kind that has been deemed illegal. But she is determined to stay in the camp and fight the system and prejudices to try to find out the truth about her brother. 

When asked if she will be able to stay in a place where she is judged, feared, and disliked just because of the magical label slapped on her before anyone even tries to know her she says “I’ve been practicing for that my whole life.” 

And you just feel the truth of this. 

Amari already knows at just 12 years old that much of the world judges her on her skin and address. When the magical world also judges her for something she has no choice in being she doesn’t resort to hate or giving in to the assumptions, she learns and grows and shows them the error of their ways. 

This is an incredible story and opening book to a series. And Amari is my hero!!

(Finished August 8, 2021)

Wings of Shadow (Crown of Feathers #3) by Nicki Pau Preto

 Book Review:

Wings of Shadow 

🪶🪶🪶🪶🪶5🪶

Everything I could have wished for in a series finale and more. 

I’m not going to say much because this book is still so new I fear spoiling anyone. And this one needs to be experienced unspoiled. 

So my vague review is this- the action and fight scenes are so wonderfully written. The choreography invoked such powerful images in my mind. 

The tension and worry was visceral. 

The character growth over the trilogy is tightly and powerfully written to its conclusion in this book. 

Love and sacrifice. Found family. Queer characters. True partnerships. It’s all here. 

And PHOENIXES!!!! 

Trust me and read the Crown of Feathers trilogy if you haven’t yet. 

(Finished August 5, 2021)

Namesake (Fable #2) by Adrienne Young

 Book Review:

Namesake 

🫖🫖🫖🫖🫖5🫖

Just like the first part of this duology, this was kind of a quiet story, no epic fights or battles, but rather is a romantic story filled with adventure. Something I truly came to love while reading was Adrienne’s writing style. It’s lovely and beautiful and filled with emotion but it’s concise too. These books aren’t over filled with extraneous details and it makes for an extremely enjoyable read. The tension and imagery aren’t lost to the style. It’s fantastic. 

Picking up right after the events of Fable, Namesake is the tense and wild windup and conclusion to the adventure of West, Fable, and their crew. It’s found family. It’s intrigue and danger. It’s romance and heartbreak. It’s scheming and betrayal. 

A cover made me buy it read that delivered big time.

(Finished July 30, 2021)

Fable (Fable #1) by Adrienne Young

 Book Review:

Fable 

✨✨✨✨✨5✨

I didn’t know what to expect from this book. This was definitely a case of The Cover Made Me Buy It. But I was also intrigued by the things I heard calling Fable a badass girl pirate.

While she isn’t exactly a pirate, Fable is absolutely badass and I love her!!

After my last few reads being so magic type fantasy heavy this was a shift. I’m not complaining just making an observation. 

After the death of her mother Fable is left by her father to fend for herself. She does, but she’s determined to get off the island and prove her worth to her father, the ironically named Saint, and get in his crew. 

What she ends up finding is herself and her own strength and worth. She also finds her chance at a family and love. 

This was kind of a quiet story, no epic fights or battles, but rather is a romantic story filled with adventure.

(Finished July 28, 2021)

Finale (Caraval #3) by Stephanie Garber

 Book Review:

Finale 

💜💜💜💜💜/5💜

While the 1st book in this trilogy told the story of Scarlett and the 2nd book was Tella’s tale, the final piece is really about the power of love. 

Love and sacrifice and pushing past the “almost ending” when it really would be so much easier to stay there and finding “the true ending” was such a lovely twist on the happily ever after way most fairytales end. 

Nothing comes easy for Scarlett and Tella. But they love for real, so deeply, and with such wild abandon, I couldn’t help fall completely and hopelessly for them. I want them for my own sisters!! 

And the boys, Julian and Legend, has also stolen my heart. At times infuriating and stubborn, they are brave and beautiful and so much more than they seemed at the start. 

Like the first 2 books the writing is lovely and dreamy and full of interesting imagery.

This has been a crazy ride!! I’m quite sad it’s over.

(Finished July 25, 2021)

Legendary (Caraval #2) by Stephanie Garber

 Book Review:

Legendary 

🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸/5🩸

While the first book in this trilogy told the story of Scarlett, this book is Tella’s tale. I found myself not really liking/caring for Scarlett this time. Which got me thinking about the way we react to things in a story depending on the POV character. 

Like the first book the writing is lovely and dreamy and full of interesting imagery. I’m looking forward to jumping into Finale and even more excited for Once Upon a Broken Heart. 

I didn’t like Tella during Caraval but she grew on me and by the time I sighed and closed the book  I loved her!

Something that this book took to a new level of WTF is the feeling that you can’t tell what is true, what is bullshit, what’s part of the game and what is real. It’s fantastic!! 

This has been a crazy ride!!

(Finished July 19, 2021)

Caraval (Caraval #1) by Stephanie Garber

 Book Review:

Caraval

🎟🎟🎟🎟/5🎟

After my last read, a trilogy packed with war and fighting and heavy magic, this was a shift. It was a quiet slow burn. That’s not a bad thing. 

I’m still not sure how much of what happened during the game was magic and how much was smoke and mirrors trickery and stage craft. But I guess that is a kind of magic too, just a different form. 

Scarlett has been obsessed with Legend and Caraval pretty much her whole life. She was fed tales of the wonder and romance and magic of it by her grandma. So she wants to go. 

She needs to go. Scarlett and her sister Tella live with their brutal father, the corrupt governor of island they live on. She is promised to a man she has never met outside letters he’s sent her, the wedding a week away. And now after years of writing to Legend she has her ticket in.

A chance at a magical wish and escape. But it turns out to be nothing she expected and so much more than she knew she wanted. 

Choices and self-care and loving yourself are heavy themes and lessons here but in a way that isn’t over your head preachy. 

Nothing and no one inside Caraval are who or what they seem. And it’s brilliant and dangerous and confusing. 

I also really enjoyed the flow of and the poetic at times way Stephanie writes. It’s lovely and dreamy and full of interesting imagery.

(Finished July 11, 2021)

The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) by Holly Black

 Book Review:

The Queen of  Nothing

💗💗💗💗💗/5💗

What a way to wrap up!! This is what a fairytale should be. Riddles, deception, war, love, loss, answers where they are least expected and aren’t what you thought they’d be. It’s all here. And more. Magic. Beasts. Curses. And so much more. I totally loved this trilogy so much. 

I love Jude so deeply and relate to her, the fear and pain making love so scary. 

I love Carden so very much. I relate to his believing he is unlovable and finding it easier to be prickly and avoid the rejection. 

I can’t think of anything I didn’t like about this story. 

It was a ragweed steed ride and it was thrilling. 

Thank you Holly Black!!

(Finished July 7, 2021)

The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2) by Holly Black

 Book Review:

The Wicked King

🧜🏽‍♀️🧜🏽‍♀️🧜🏽‍♀️🧜🏽‍♀️🧜🏽‍♀️/5🧜🏽‍♀️

I absolutely devoured every moment of this piece of the story. And I’m so ridiculously anxious to see what Jude does next, how she will react to what happened to her, what she has been through. 

This middle book is a fabulous bridge, the tension started slowly and built up until reaching a fevered pitch right at the end. And then wham!! A totally kick to the heart. I don’t know what to feel, I don’t know what to hope for. My heart is racing and my mind is filled with all kind of thoughts and worries. 

I love Jude for all her stubbornness and the heart she tries so hard to pretend she doesn’t have. 

There were times while reading that I felt like I couldn’t breathe and it was so much fun.

Holly Black really is an incredible story teller!! 

So now I am on the conclusion, joyfully yet terrified at the same time.

(Finished July 5, 2021)

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black

 Book Review:

Book Review:

The Cruel Prince

👑👑👑👑👑/5👑

When my middle and youngest kids where littles they were obsessed with The Spiderwick Chronicles. Then my youngest discovered and become obsessed with Doll Bones, still one of his favorite books ever. I later read and really enjoyed The Coldest Girl in Cold Town & The Darkest Part of the Forest. All that to say Holly Black has been such an important and loved part of my reading life for quite some time. So I’m not sure why it took me so long to read The Cruel Prince. But I did and I absolutely loved it. It was fairytale. It was mystery. It was magic and hinted at romance. It was finding power when you feel the most powerless. And it was incredible world building. 

Everything I’ve come to expect from her writing. I need to see where this is going. And will be staying up late to begin the next part of this trilogy. 

Jude is so complex and strong, even as she thinks she isn’t. 

And as much as I hate to admit it, Carden has grown on me and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for Jude and me.

(Finished July 4, 2021)

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

 Book Review:

Ace of Spades

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥/5🔥

Holy shit. This book. This book is so important. This book is heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking because it’s a magnifying of reality. It’s an allegory for the history of the world that has led us to this time and day. For the way Black bodies are treated as disposable. For the way Black minds are not valued. For the othering and lessening of people who have fought twice as hard for half as much and been told to be grateful. Are there schools doing this exact thing this explicitly? I don’t know, I hope not. But what happens to Chiamaka and Devon is what happens in all areas of life to BIPOC, has been happening for hundreds of year. 

If I had to give you a descriptive I’d say if you take the supernatural elements out of the film Get Out leaving all the evil and dropped it into a high school you’d have Ace of Spades. I hope Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé writes more books because her writing is vivid and brilliant and real and raw. 

My only complaint is that this book was not the B&N YA bookclub book during a time when we could have had groups in store. The conversations that could have taken place would have been important and difficult and necessary.

(Finished July 2, 2021)

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas

 2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

Lost In the Never Woods

🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️/5🧚‍♀️

Yes, another retelling. As I said, I’m a sucker for them. Aiden wrote the amazing Cemetery Boys (a must read if you haven’t already) and so when this came out I knew I had to have it. Plus being a Wendy, I’m a sap for Peter Pan and twists on the fairytale. 

This one takes place over the summer between high school and college and in modern day Oregon. 

Wendy Darling survived something, she can’t remember exactly what, but it’s been 5 years and her brothers have been missing the whole time. Since “it” happened she has been drawing Peter Pan and a mysterious tree without realizing she’s doing it. And kids are going missing…kids she has a connection to. 

Then she hits Peter with her truck and the real heart of this story starts. 

What happened to her brothers? Why can’t she and what can’t she remember? How is Peter Pan real? 

This is a such a moving and deep story. It’s magical and real. It’s about loss and the mind and how it protects us from pain and trauma. And it’s about love. 

Aiden did it again!! An incredible story!! Scary at times and wonderful from start to finish.

(Finished July 1, 2021)

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

 2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

I Wish You All the Best

💛💛💛💛💛/5💛

I got to meet Mason Deaver in Boston at LeakyCon, something I have a deep personal connection to, and so this feels like a little more of an important and special review. 

I am so filled with feels. My heart is bursting. Everything that happened in these pages at turns shredded me, made me laugh, made me cry, made me cringe, made me angry, and made me grateful. As a mother I was so devastated for Ben. They deserved so much better than they got. As a survivor of childhood trauma I related to their way of judging themself in the light of how their parents treated them. 

Ben comes out to their parents as nonbinary and it doesn’t go well. And that’s an understatement. The road to healing is long and if I’m being honest, as Ben comes to realize, is never ending. There are good days and bad. Good moments and bad. But love is possible, friendships are possible, family is possible, and living is possible. And a valuable lesson for all is that being a parent isn’t a free pass to be a dick and awful. We don’t owe our parents and our children don’t owe us. If you’re abusive and awful you deserve to, the the very least, get left. And if you’re abused you are allowed to say “no more”. 

Thank you Mason for this amazing book. I’m so glad I finally read it and can now better share it as a bookseller and book lover. Oh, and I hate the sand too 😉!

(Finished June 28, 2021)

Sword in the Stars: A Once Future Novel by A.R. Capetta, Cori McCarthy

 2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

Sword In the Stars

🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡/5🗡

I REALLY, REALLY wasn’t kidding when I said I have a deep love of retellings. I just finished yet another. This is the conclusion to Once & Future. And I LOVED this duology so damn much!! It’s an Arthurian legend retelling. It’s beautifully queer. The love between Gwen and Ari and Val and Merlin is just everything. 

Spoiler warning for the first book as this one picks up right after the first-

The characters have moved from outer space to Camelot in the days of Arthur and nothing is as it seems or as the written legend says. It’s heavy on the best kind of messaging, what agency do we have over our own stories and what can we do when we have the opportunity to fix mistakes. And it’s full of danger and excitement and magic and everything I love. It’s found family. It’s adventure. It’s heartbreaking and full of hope. I can’t say enough good things about this book!! 

(Finished June 27, 2021)

Malice (Malice Duology #1) by Heather Walter

 2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

Malice

🥀🥀🥀🥀🥀/5🥀

I wasn’t kidding when I said I have a real love of retellings. I just finished another. This one is is really deep and complex!! It’s a Sleeping Beauty retelling. And it’s the first in a duology, which means I’m now anxious to learn what happens to Alyce. I feel like I’m repeating myself, but I really and truly loved this adventure. Even in the moments it gutted me and broke my heart. 

Alyce isn’t all good. She may have been if things had turned out differently, if other choices been made, by her and those who came before her. She isn’t all bad either, or at least she didn’t start out that way. What makes a monster or a villain? Do we become one if we are told often and violently enough that we are unlovable, ugly, worthless? Alyce falls for Aurora. And it just might be mutual. But for her entire life Alyce has been brutally told how disgusting she is. This shapes her choices. And changes her, in some really jaw dropping ways. 

Clever, heartbreaking, and a warning about what we do to each other, what can be done to us, and the harm that can come from not being cared for because we are seen as “different.”

(Finished June 23, 2021)

Once & Future (Once & Future #1) by A.R. Capetta, Cori McCarthy

 2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

Once & Future 

🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡/5🗡

I have a real love of retellings. Do you? This one is AMAZEBALLS!! It’s an Arthurian retelling. Set in outer space. In the far distant future. And it’s loaded with amazing Queer characters. And adventure. And a kind of sorta dragon. And romance. It’s brilliant. 

Arthur has been coming back over and over and he doesn’t complete his quest cycle and it starts over. Ari is the 42nd Arthur. And Ari is girl. 

Each time the cycle starts over Merlin has aged- backwards. He’s getting younger. So now he’s in his upper teens!! 

All the bones of the legend of King Arthur are here, Excalibur, Guinevere, Lancelot, the round table, Morgana, The Lady of The Lake…but the twists are exciting and new and some are unexpected. I really and truly loved this adventure. Even in the moments it gutted me and broke my heart. 

I hope to get to the conclusion of this Duology this month. I NEED to know what happens!!!

(Finished June 20, 2021)

Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

 2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

Hani and Ishu’s Guide To Fake Dating 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5⭐️

I love fake dating leads to falling for each other stories. This takes it to an entirely new level. I love Hani and Ishu. Their hearts and feelings and fears and struggles make them a captivating pair, each on their own but also as a team. 

My heart ached for the pain that Hani’s “friends” cause her. And I also felt so heartsick for Ishu and Nik and the struggle they both faced as they tried to find their way to a sisterhood. 

I think too, I felt somewhat sad for Ishu’s mother even as I was upset at the way they treated their daughters. 

The complexity of relationships in the pages of this story…just so much, so real. 

And holy crap did I ever want to tell of the principal of their school. What an awful way for an educator to act, but sadly not uncommon. 

Books can do a few things. They help us feel seen by the representation in the stories. And they help us to see those we may not have any or much knowledge of and/or contact with and learn about the lives other people live, hopefully making us better humans in the process. 

As a white Jewish woman in America I am not qualified to and so I will not comment on the accuracy of the representation of the Bengali and Muslim experience. If you’ve read this book and do see yourselves in it and have an opinion/thoughts on the representation and feel comfortable sharing, I’d love to know your thoughts. 

Camp by Lev A.C. Rosen

 2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

Camp 

💅💅💅💅/5💅

The moral of the story is we all deserve a place where it’s safe to be our full and true selves. 

This the story about a place that provides that for Randy and his friends and all the kids who come to Camp Outland. 

It’s a place where theater kids and kids into sports and all the interests in between can all be fully out and explore their interests and “interests” in a safe and accepting environment. For some of the kids at camp it’s the only place they get that and for some it’s an extension of home but more. 

This summer Randy has a plan, he’s going to make his crush Hudson, fall for him. He’s a theater loving 16 year old who is determined to use his skills to become Del and be more like Hudson’s ideal and it could be the role of his life. 

Until it works and he begins to learn that being someone else to get someone to love you isn’t such a good idea. Which brings us back to the moral of the story. 

And oh how I’d love to see this version of Bye Bye Birdie. 

And also, I’d love some Unicorn Trampocalypse nail polish. 

And also, also- as the parent of a queer kid this one was an emotional read for me. I was quite sad and angry. I was so sad for Hudson and was so angry at his parents for the trauma they put him through. 

(May not be appropriate for younger teens/tweens, there’s some steamy sex scenes.)

(Finished June 15, 2021)

Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli

 2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿/5🍿

I ABSOLUTELY loved every second of this book!! Even when I was wishing I could tell Kate to snap out of it and stop for a second, to listen, and to feel. Change is hard! Growing up is harder!! But it doesn’t have to mean the end, it can be followed by endless opening nights and curtain calls. 

I have never been disappointed or let down by a @beckyalbertalli book and this one is no exception. #KateInWaiting was so much fun and so full of feels, thank you Becky for giving this bookseller another great go-to suggestion!! 

And if it’s ok with you I’m going to keep thinking I’m mentioned in your Curtain Speech…hey it does say booksellers 😉😜😍

And lastly, I need to say that it is so damn important to remember that COMING OUT SHOULD NEVER BE FORCED AND IS NOT OWED TO ANYONE!! IT IS A PERSONAL DECISION AND IS NOT UP FOR DEBATE. OTHER DO NOT GET TO DECIDE HOW QUEER SOMEONE IS OR HOW PUBLIC THAT QUEERNESS IS!!

(Finished June 13, 2021)

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

 I read and loved Casey's book Red, White & Royal Blue so I was very excited when I saw this one coming out and even more so since it was just in time for my annual Pride Read-A-Thon. 

2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5✨

This book!! I need to start by saying that I read the back of the book before getting this and didn’t really read the whole thing. I was sold that is was by Casey and was set in my hometown, NYC. But had I read it all I wouldn’t have been so thrown off or confused over the girl literally lost in time. 😳

I absolutely LOVED Red, White & Royal Blue so I again went outside my usual reading genre for this one. I don’t typically go for romances. I don’t mind romance in a story but I don’t seek out romance novels. Unless I love the author. 

One Last Stop is quirky and different. I love the references to the 70’s. I love the setting and how much it feels like a character in the book. 

I love that August is a curvy, full figured girl. I love the found family trope. And I love the story of August and Jane. 

Jane is stuck on the Q train, quite literally so since something happened to knock her out of her time and into August’s. 

August is finding her way and learning what it means to put down roots and make a place for herself that has meaning and permanence. 

This was fun and different and sexy and a little heartbreaking, unlike anything I’ve read before.

(Finished June 10, 2021)

The Summer of Everything by Julian Winters

 2021 Pride Read-A-Thon Book Review:

The Summer of Everything 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5✨

I simply adore Julian’s writing. He makes me feel and think and cry and laugh and it’s everything. This just might be my favorite (so far). I want to be part of a family like the one that grows out of the group at One More Page. I love Wes in all his nerdy glory. 

It’s the summer between high school and college and 18 year olds Wes thinks he has to have it all figured out, after all it seems like all those around him do. And he has a massive crush on his best friend Nico. 

His beloved bookstore/work place is closing and he just wants to save it. 

As the summer passes Wes learns about love and loss and the difference between letting go and moving on. 

I absolutely loved every second I spent in this book and it begs for a playlist. 

This is a must read for anyone who feels like they aren’t sure it’s ok to not know the next move or where they even want to go. 

(Finished June 6, 2021)