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)

Mister Impossible (Dreamer Trilogy #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

 The first book in the trilogy: Call Down the Hawk. 

It's @maggie_stiefvater so it starts at ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5✨ and would have to epically fail to go down. #misterimpossible does not fail!

As spoiler free as possible I’ll say that my one and only complaint is not enough Adam but when the big thing I didn’t see coming is revealed I understood why and the setup it played for the conclusion. 

The way this story plays with the idea of what it means to be real, to be alive, to be your own person is truly fascinating and powerful. The snarky style of some the characters and the depth of them all slowly unravels and everyone is more than they seem. 

And I do mean EVERYONE!!

(Finished May 31, 2021)