Author: Shouni

~o~Rating~o~

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.

There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?

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Ahh, this was so adorable! The Upside of Unrequited was even more adorable than Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Molly is kind, creative, and utterly relatable. The book has a diverse, multi-dimensional cast and of course Albertalli’s quirky writing style.

Molly is a fat girl and she is extremely aware of it. Her confidence in her own body increases as the story develops and her journey to self love was my favorite part of the novel.

To me, the best thing about a Becky Albertalli book is the dialogue. The characters speak like normal teenagers, they’re not whiny brats and they’re also not wise beyond their years sprouting out medieval quotes. Her characters always seem like genuine teenagers you can picture in a high school setting.

I’m always craving stories where family plays an important role in the MC’s life and Molly has a fantastic family. She has two moms, a twin sister Cassie who I also loved, and the cutest little baby brother. A good part of the book revolves around her moms’ wedding; they can finally get married because it’s now legal.

Molly and Cassie’s relationship was another great aspect of the book. Where Molly is quiet and cautious, Cassie is outspoken and a little reckless. Cassie meets her dream girl and is in a serious relationship for once and Molly is worried it’ll change her relationship with her twin. Their sibling relationship felt completely authentic, with arguments and fights but also fierce loyalty.

If you’ve read Simon vs. then you’re in for a treat because CAMEOS!

And Reid is an absolute darling (I just had to mention it).

Have you read this? What did you think?

~o~Review~o~

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, Khalil’s death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Starr’s best friend at school suggests he may have had it coming. When it becomes clear the police have little interest in investigating the incident, protesters take to the streets and Starr’s neighborhood becomes a war zone. What everyone wants to know is: What really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could destroy her community. It could also endanger her life.

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When books like this come along, I realize how incredibly inept I am at reviewing books. I’m sure everyone has either read this book or has at-least heard of it. It’s pretty much everywhere now and the hype is very well deserved. It’s been about a month since I read this and I’ve been putting off writing a review for it because nothing I say will justify how great of a book this is.

The Hate U Give is perfect. I was laughing and crying and was happy and heart-broken. If you are to read one book this year, this should be it. This is the epitome of an important book. 

The Hate U Give is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. It has really opened my eyes on a lot of issues that I was aware of but not to the degree in which they exist. This novel touches on police brutality, racism and racial profiling, micro-agression, etc. The fact that there are parents in the world who need to sit their children down and talk to them about how to protect themselves from the police if they are ever pulled over? That’s APPALLING to me. But THUG also depicts the good side of cops through Starr’s uncle who is like a father to her. Not all cops are racist and discriminatory and the story shows both sides.

Even though THUG portrays so many contemporary societal problems, it never seems like the author is shoving her opinions down her readers. The issues are all wonderfully crafted into the characters’ lives and we see how it affects them on a daily basis.

Starr is a great main character. She is strong, funny and utterly relatable. She lives in two different worlds (as she would say). The neighborhood she lives in is impoverished, a little run down and crime ridden but she goes to a private school with wealthier kids that’s about an hour from her house. Because she is a part of both worlds, she also doesn’t think she can be wholly herself in either places. She struggles with finding her place in both her home community and her school.

There were quite a few funny scenes too. Lots of references to Harry Potter, High School Musical, Tumblr, and Starr’s favorite show of all time: The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

Another wonderful aspect of the book is the importance of family to the story line. Starr’s parents are straight up awesome. They are supportive, encouraging but also stern. Starr has a great relationship with both her mother and father which can be hard to find in YA. Her older half-brother Seven is great: he is very protective of Starr and his two other half sisters. And Starr’s little brother Sekani is just an adorable cutie.

Like I said before, I cannot stress enough how good this book is. EVERYONE needs to read it.

Have you read it? What did you think?

~o~Rating~o~

“The beast raged; it punctured the air with its spite. But the girl was fiercer.”

Tea is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the kingdom. For theirs is a powerful, elemental magic that can reach beyond the boundaries of the living—and of the human.

Great power comes at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.

~o~My Review~o~

First off, thank you so much to the publisher (Sourcebooks Fire) and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this SO BAD!! I don’t usually review books that I haven’t finished but I felt like I needed to explain why I couldn’t finish it. If I were to describe Bone Witch with one word, it would be boring. It’s uneventful, and I honestly could not tell you what the plot is. The book started off well too, we find out that Tea is a Bone Witch when she accidentally resurrects her brother. And then… nothing happens. It got so bad, I started reading this book when I couldn’t fall asleep at night. I only got through about 35% before quitting and calling it a day.

It’s clear Rin Chupeco put a lot of thought into building this world and some of the concepts are original with a lot of potential which is why I read as much as I did. But rather than easing readers into this world, there are massive information dumps to where I couldn’t keep up with the Fantasy elements. One of the concepts I really liked about the world though was the heartglass. The characters literally wore their hearts around their necks and heartglasses can give you a glimpse into a person’s personality and powers.

The book’s slowness also has a lot to do with the two different point of views: Tea is basically telling her story to someone else so half the chapters are from his point of view while the other chapters are her POV telling the story. That’s a good idea and props to the author for trying but it wasn’t doing well for me.

I love character driven stories and this was not one. Tea as a character has no substance and little to no emotion. She’s just plain (sorry for the repetition) boring. I could not connect to her at all.

Bone Witch gets two stars because of the originality of the world. And the writing itself is good even if the execution isn’t. (Also the cover fits in so well with my blog’s color scheme!)

Have you any of you guys read this yet? Is it on your TBR?