Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali

 I had seen this book at work and was thinking it looked like a good one, then I saw a fellow bookstagramer saying how much she loved it, how much she loved the story and how wonderful and respectful and awesome the Muslim representation is in the story. I believe that if you aren't of the group that is being represented it isn't for you to judge the representation and that when someone who is of that groups tells you it is good or bad you should believe them. Since I am always seeing stories with good representation as part of my desire to learn more and understand more as I truly want to be a good ally and of course I am always looking for a good story I decided to check this one out. 

And I am so glad I did!!! What an amazing story, I loved it so much. I love Adam and his dad and sister. Adam has the kind of outlook on life that tries to see the good, the marvel, in each day. His mom died and he misses her and hurts over it and over something else that has happened or is happening. But she still tries to hold on to his sense of awe and wonder for the world around him. 

As much as I love Adam, I love Zayneb even more. She is brave and loving and angry and sad and so alive and complex and amazing. I love when a writer is able to bring a character to life so much so that you can feel them, really get a sense that they are a person and not just ink on a page. And that is what Zayneb is. She has been treated so badly by people, sometimes in overt ways and sometimes in ore subtle ways too, but it has sparked a fire in her. It all stems from her choice to wear hijab, and how Muslim it makes her appear. She is treated horribly by a teacher, by a stranger on a plane and at a swimming pool, and she doesn't go into details, but she makes it clear that is happens often. 

And she is near about at her breaking point. Then she meets Adam. 

Their story is one of love. Love of family, love of life and friends, love of God and a strong faith. 

This was just what my soul needed, but it is also what my bookseller heart needed, because I now know I can safely suggest this to the teens that come into my workplace and ask for romance that isn't all sex and drinking and whatnot. And for those who ask if we have books with Muslim representation. 

(Finished April 30, 2021)

Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

 I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Imani Parks. 

The voice of the person reading for an audiobook is so important to the experience and this was so well done. 5⭐ for that part. 

The story...wow, just so much more than I thought it was going to be. I went into this not knowing that much about it, just that it was about a young girl with a missing best friend and no one wanting to listen to her and help her find her friend. And it was..but damn it was so much more. 

CW for major mentions of abuse and neglect of children. 

Claudia has a best friend names Monday. They have been best friends almost forever. Claudia and Monday usually exchange letters over the summer, when Claudia goes to stay with her grandma and Monday stays in DC. But this time no letters came. And then school starts. And Monday doesn't show up. And the next day still no Monday. And not the day after that or the day after that. And Claudia knows something is wrong. But she can't get anyone to believe her. Without Monday nothing feels right and nothing works. She has no other friends and is struggling in school, so how is she supposed to go on? And why won't anyone help? Where is Monday? And as she tries to get answers her life also kind of has to move on. 

The story is told in a back and forth in time style. There is the before, the after, and the before the before. In this fashion the story begins to unfold. 

Their friendship and struggles are laid out in the before the before. 

Trying to get someone to listen and trying to find out what happened to Monday is the before. 

And after Monday is found is the part of the story we get in the after. And this is the part that I didn't see coming. The entire story is one long gut punch and heart shredding tale. But the after is just so much more. And I can't tell you more or give any specifics, it really needs to be experienced. 

This was my first book by Tiffany but I plan on adhering her to my must read no matter what list of authors. The story is so raw and beautiful and ugly and real and devastating. There is love and loss and hope and pain. I will be thinking about and feeling this one for a really long time. 

5⭐ for the story too. 

(Finished April 27, 2021)

We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra

This was an audiobook so I will be mentioning the performance by the narrators in my review.  

We Contain Multitudes is told in letters back and forth between Jonathan "little Jo" Hopkirk and Adam "Kurl" Kurlansky. 

When the story beings the boys don't know each other, they were just assigned in their respective English classes to be pen pals. Over the course of the letters we go along as they get to know each other and themselves. This is an extremely poignant and beautiful story about love, friendship, family, loss, pain, healing, and grief. 

Jonathan is a sophomore. He lives with his father Lyle and his sister Shayna. He is quirky and lovely and sweet and gay. He is tormented at school by a group he calls The Butcher Boys. He plays the mandolin and has a tent in his bedroom that is inner sanctum. He loves Prince. He loves vintage clothes. He loves Walt Whitman. He loves. 

Adam is a senior. He lives with his mother and his uncle/step-father. He played football and seems to get into fights, at least his face looks like he does. He thinks he isn't a good writer or an artist but his letters say otherwise. He has two older bothers and works for his uncle for the family roofing business after school. His mother married his father's brother after he died making Uncle Vic his step-father. And he has a secret. 

Over the course of their letters they go from strangers to friends to being in love. Kurl's secret comes out and the effects show the signs of PTSD and he messes things up badly with Jo. Can they find their way? Can Kurl heal? Can Jo? What we do and say to the ones we love sometimes isn't very loving. How does a person make amends? How do we forgive? Can we let go of anger and move on to healing? This story tackles these questions with humor and tears and brutal honesty. It is beautiful even when it is ugly!!

Narrators Matthew Gouveia,  Tony Kim really do an amazing job bringing Jo and Kurl to life. I cried and laughed and sighed and got lost in their words/voices. Brilliant!!

I loved this so much I and getting a print copy too!! 

"Let us be together ever dauntless." 

(Finished April 22, 2021)

We Free the Stars (Sands of Arawiya #2) by Hafsah Faizal

 This is the conclusion to the Sands of Arawiya Duology, the first book being We Hunt the Flame. 

I loved the first book and book 2 didn't disappoint. In fact it was a wild ride, ups and downs, slow moving scenes full of emotion in-between action and battle. It was a rollercoaster ride in the best possible way. 

At one point I felt like my heart had been shredded in my chest, not sure if I could go on. From the beginning when Zafira left her home on the epic journey to Sharr until the end of the story, the growth of the characters has been incredible, I loved it. 

In this installment we get more of Zafira's sister Lana and she is so much!! I love her. She is so much older than her 14 years. The bond between the members of the zumra is threatened but rather than fracture it grows. The family you choose is one of my favorite tropes. 

I don't want to spoil anything but if you liked Nasir before you will love him here, he is so much deeper than I could have imagined and I already felt there was more to him than the Prince of Death...and Altair, he is even better than he was in WHTF, even at the worst of times he keeps that sense of humor and spark that made him a favorite, and then there is Kifah, a warrior and a friend and so brilliant, and a little terrifying, I wouldn't want to be on the other end of her spear. But the eyes we see through the most, Zafira, is the most interesting because of the light her POV sheds on the imperfection of people even when they have the best of intentions. 

Hafsah writes in a way I love, she makes the story a full sensory experience. You can see the sights, the colors, the darkness, the blood...you can smell the world she creates, the spices and meats in the market place, the smoke, the stink of battle, and you can feel...everything. 

One more thing I want to make mention of, I truly love imperfect characters, complicated characters. Perfection is boring and unattainable. But characters that are complex are much more interesting. When they are not all evil, not all good, when they are flawed and make mistakes, when they choose to not make things right after messing up or take the road to redemption, that is much more interesting, much more exciting. And we have that here. Hafsah does it so deftly and it is glorious!! I mean, really, life experiences change us. What we do with that, how we act, how we react if we mess up, the choices we make, it is never all clean and easy, it is messy, life is messy. While I am not imposed to a happy ending, I don't mind a sad ending when it feels appropriate and I don't mind an ending that a mixed bag. I just hate when things are too neatly cleaned up and tied together and there is no realistic fallout or consequences to everything that happened before...which makes the time and emotional investment feel like a waste...

This was a win, a true 5⭐ read!

(Finished April 21, 2021)

Rule of Wolves (King of Scars #2) by Leigh Bardugo

 Book 2 in the King of Scars duology and part of the larger Grishaverse but I suspect you may know this. If you haven't read these books yet my suggested order of reading is:

Shadow and Bone

Siege and Storm

Ruin and Rising 

Six of Crows

Crooked Kingdom

King of Scars

***note: you can choose to read the Crows duology first, some people do, I just liked the context Shadow & Bone give for the story that is told in Crows***

I'm really having a hard time talking about this book without making reference to King of Scars so if you haven't read it yet then after this you will want to skip the rest of this review: I loved this book. I was heartbroken over a certain part, thrilled about some returns, loved the depth of the characters that have developed over the course of all the books and paid off here, and I absolutely believe there will be more books in the Grishaverse. Continue reading at your own risk, while I won't spoil this book you may feel spoiled for past bits if you haven't read them...I mean it, I won't be offended if you come back later...

When we met Hanne in King of Scars I really loved her right away. Nina was already a character I was attached to and I immediately began shipping them. I was so glad to spend time with them here and get to pine over them, want them to fall for each other. They are, I was going to say my favorites, but then I think about Zoya and think maybe she is my favorite, but then I think about Genya....you get where I am going right? I just can't choose..I love this world, and these characters all so much. 

Ravka is in a really tough place, running out of money and allies. The Fjerdians are hellbent on wiping them off the map, the attempt on Nikolai's life that cost Isaak his has lasting consequences and brings new characters and intrigues into play. There is so much to love here, but I think my favorite part of this is the parade of old friends who come back for this finale that isn't a finale at all. 

But I think this line by someone you wouldn't expect it from is the truth this story is built on:

"This is what love does. In the stories, love healed your wounds, fixed what was broken, allowed you to go on. But love wasn’t a spell, some kind of benediction to be whispered, a balm or a cure-all. It was a single, fragile thread, which grew stronger through connection, through shared hardship and trust."

All of what has happened before now has led us to this. The realization that connections are good, that love is a strength and not a weakness. 

I won't be at all sorry to come back to the Grishaverse and really hope there is a lot more coming. 

(Finished April 10, 2021)

Legendborn (Legendborn #1) by Tracy Deonn

This was the October 2020 OwlCrate book. 

I want to start by saying that I loved this book. I loved the writing style, I loved the twit of the Arthurian story, I loved the main character and so many of the side characters, and I even loved the way Tracy messed with the reader by making you begin to question and change how you felt about one particular character. 

But I think the thing I want to share with you about this book, what I think is the most important piece, is the very honest and open way that Tracy includes race and the very real struggle and the history of racism in American life that no matter how magical and adventurous her adventure becomes is something Bree can't ignore or escape. Also addressed and also important is the role of trauma in shaping and/or reshaping us and getting help dealing with trauma and the paining difficulty of it. 

Bree Matthews wants to attend a program called Early College, "EC", at UNC Chapel Hill and her mother is very much against it. They fight and before they can do anything to makeup her mom dies in a car accident. And in her struggle to deal with life without her mom and how it was between them when she dies Bree feels something split inside her she calls "After-Bree." This how we meet Bree. 

Three months later she is at EC with her best friend Alice Chen. I love Alice. She loved Bree so hard. And she loved Bree's mom too. Their friendship and ability to fight and makeup and fight and makeup inter history will be important now more than ever. 

Also coming into her life at UNC is Nick, Sel, Greer (they/them), Tor and Sarah (girlfriends very much in love), William, Fitz, Evan, and Whitty among other people and a whole host of monsters. There are secret societies, branches of magic, the history of slavery at UNC and the role it played in building the school. 

Because the story takes place in modern day North Carolina there isn't really any world building many fantasy series need to tackle in a book 1 but there is a building of the magic system and it is beautifully done, missing the sometimes slow build and clunky start that can plague the start of a series. Instead we get time really getting to know Bree, to feel what she feels. 

The story is magical, tense, mysterious, adventurous, has a little romance, and some really cool unexpected twists. And is exciting and gripping. You will want to read the next book ASAP given the cliffhanger ending. 

And now I need to bring this back to race. No matter how much magic comes into her life she can't escape the way she is treated because when people look at her the first thing and sometimes only thing they see is her skin, her hair (there is a scene about hair touching and it is woven in seamlessly and is powerful and feels like a big step in her finding the power to use her voice). She is mistaken for "the help". She has a run in with a police officer that terrified me and I am sure was infinitely more terrifying for her. (Yes I talk about and feel about fictional character like they are real, don't judge me!!) And the scene in the dean's office was so infuriating. It doesn't matter if the cute guy likes her, if she is powerful and smart, if she has incredible magic, to some she is unimportant, bothersome, someone they wish to be rid of because she is a Black girl. And she can't turn that off and on and we need to feel it with her, try to imagine it if you have never seen it or experienced it. It is important to read books to educate ourselves about lives and history and experiences that are not our won to better to become better allies and that isn't always going to happen in books specifically intended to teach, sometimes it happens in a story that entertains but also puts us in the POV of someone we see going through stuff we only hear about out there...And that is what this book did so powerfully. 

Because of the above I am putting this book on my antiracist GoodReads shelf. I am also putting it on my LGBTQ shelf too. While it isn't about an LQBTQ+ main character the way gender and sexuality are written about is important because it is written in as just a normal part of the world and also because Bree can see similarities between her struggle and the struggle of those she knows/meets who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. 

And that is all I will say...other than read this book!!

(Finished April 2, 2021)