I'm glad that there was such personal growth from Twinkle throughout the story, I feel like she's a completely different character from who she was whI'm glad that there was such personal growth from Twinkle throughout the story, I feel like she's a completely different character from who she was when the book began. I really enjoyed this book a lot because it was funny and cute; I was laughing out loud at certain scenes and swooning at others. I think this story is important and needed, and I'm glad I got the chance to read Twinkle's journey.
I do wish there was more focus on the filmmaking aspect, since I feel like it was glossed over.
This was, surprisingly, really really good. I never had a doubt that the writing would be spectacular, but I really enjoyed the atmospherAHHHHH Okay.
This was, surprisingly, really really good. I never had a doubt that the writing would be spectacular, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the book a lot. It felt... dark, like you had to whisper in case there were any monsters lurking around.
I like that this felt like a murder-mystery type of book, with a few chapters in between of the "killer".
My only gripe with the story is that I wanted to see more about the vampires and other lore creatures out there. Because the book focuses on Celine, who doesn't know anything about them, we don't really see a lot about them. It's not until the end of the book that we finally get bigger glimpses at these creatures and what they can actually do. The sequel promises to do more of that, so I absolutely cannot wait.
Also, can I say that I SCREAMED when I found out the love interest had Taíno heritage and grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico?? I really really hope we see more of that in the sequel as well, it's not often we see Taíno mentions anywhere.
Anyway, I do still recommend this book. It wasn't too... flashy, but it was entirely captivating and brings something new to the table. There's also a wonderful cast of characters and great dynamics to explore....more
TSIYS has a great premise, however its execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Instead of being a murder/thriller type bBoricuan Bookworms- Book Reviews
TSIYS has a great premise, however its execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Instead of being a murder/thriller type book, what I found it to be was a contemporary romance novel with a murder thrown in at certain moments. It’s like the book would forget it was supposed to be about a killer being on the loose, and would focus on the boring romance between our main character and the town’s “tortured bad boy”.
First of all, I couldn’t bring myself to care about what was going on. The story starts off by a character getting murdered, but I as a reader, didn’t know a single thing about the person who died, so their death was pretty inconsequential. Since the story is narrated in 3rd person from Makani, the main character’s perspective, we pretty much only see what she sees. This is a problem, as Makani only ever interacts with about 3 or 4 people in the book at most, and her story focuses more on the romance than anything else. We don’t get a chance to form our own suspicions as to who may be killing or who may be killed next, because Makani is a new student, so she doesn’t really know a lot of people inside the school. We only ever learn about the people who get murdered after the fact, and even then, it’s not really enough to make an impact.
The romance was another thing that hindered my enjoyment of the book. It was boring and predictable. New girl meets boy who everyone says is bad news, but she looks into his eyes and realizes there’s more to him than meets the eye… and the rest is history. Owen is a quiet reserved type, and he and Makani’s romance is the dullest romance I’ve seen in a while. They make-out, talk about random stuff, make-out some more, and… that’s about it? I don’t really remember anything worthwhile about their romance, which is unfortunate because it takes up most of the book.
The book wastes more time trying to build up a relationship than it does trying to build up the supposed terror and horror that it promised in the summary. The truly horrifying parts were the murders and those were way too rare. Those were described in excruciatingly gory detail, which would suck me in to the story at once, however then the book would go back to it’s normal plot and all would be forgotten until the killer wanted to kill again.
The book has this habit of creating a lot of build-up to then have it fizzle into nothing. Makani is supposed to carry this deep, dark, devastating secret that is alluded to throughout the story, but once we find out what it is, it’s so ridiculously underwhelming that it annoyed me and made me wish she would be murdered next.
Uncovering the killer should’ve been the saving grace of this book, but the killer is revealed at about 50% of the story, and then…. that's it. The reveal was anticlimactic for a multitude of reasons,(view spoiler)[ (mainly because the killer turns out to be this completely random person) (hide spoiler)], but also because after we find out who it is, the story doesn’t really change in any significant way. The book keeps on with the same predictable formula: a couple of chapters focusing on Makani with a murder in between. Even the killer’s reasoning is terribly underwhelming and completely ridiculous once it’s revealed. It makes no sense story-wise or character-wise, and had I been watching this as a movie, I would’ve thrown my popcorn at the screen and walked out.
As for diversity, our main character Makani is Black/Native Hawaiian. I can’t speak for the representation (as this is not an #ownvoices novel), but know that there were mentions of traditional Hawaiian food and Makani would talk about her home sometimes. There’s a secondary trans character, but I can’t say anything about the representation either because they weren’t featured that much in the story. I will say though, that in my review copy the character is deadnamed in once instance, and purposefully misgendered by another student in the other. I believe the author addressed this but I’m not sure if it’s a thing that will be changed in the finished copy.
Overall, There’s Someone Inside Your House promised a spark, but delivered a fizzle. It read more like a YA romance than it did a YA horror novel. It’s a shame, too, because the bits of horror written in were immensely enjoyable, and the book itself is so short that it could have been read in one sitting had it not been for the lackluster romance and flat plot. I recommend this book only if you’re looking for a quick read, or something that reads like a bad Lifetime made-for-tv “horror” movie.
An advanced copy of this book was provided by the publisher ...more
The First Rule of Punk is a fun middle grade book about a Mexican-American girl who whose mother has relocated them Boricuan Bookworms- Book Reviews
The First Rule of Punk is a fun middle grade book about a Mexican-American girl who whose mother has relocated them to Chicago for a new job. I really liked a lot of things about Malú from the beginning, because it was completely relatable to me to see her struggling with her identity. She doesn’t want to be the perfect Mexican señorita her mother wants her to be, but instead wants to be punk like her dad.
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Malú’s struggles really highlight the unrealistic expectations that are placed upon children of color. Malú is called a “coco” (brown on the outside, white on the inside), by her classmate Selena, the perfect example of a Mexican child. Unlike Selena, Malú doesn’t speak Spanish perfectly, she doesn’t like cilantro, doesn’t enjoy traditional Mexican dancing; basically doesn’t do things that are “expected” from a Mexican child. But does this make Malú any less Mexican?
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Of course, there’s more to the story than this. This book isn’t only about identity and culture, but about friendship and finding your place. We see Malú’s character develop throughout the story while she makes new friends and meets more Mexican people and role models who help her understand her struggles.
I like to think of us as more like patchwork quilts. Some pieces are prettier than others. Some pieces match and some don't. But if you remove a square, you're just left with an incomplete quilt, and who wants that? All our pieces are equally important if they make us whole. Even the weird ones.
I think that this book really shows how representation is important, as we see how much Malú starts to reevaluate her life once she meets more people who are actually like her and she sees all the possibilities of what she can be.
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In between chapters, we see excerpts of zines Malú makes, which gives us extra insight into who she is and what she admires. I liked this aspect of the book a lot because it was a fun little surprise waiting for you at some parts of the story.
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While being middle grade, this book never feels to me like it’s too “juvenile” or “childish”; yes, the main character is 12 years old, but the story is written in such a way that it’s difficult not to get sucked in. Malú’s narrative voice is honest and a little bit sarcastic, which made a lot of situations both relatable and completely hilarious. I definitely recommend this book to anyone, because it’s fun and refreshing while also dealing with serious issues such as culture and being yourself.
It was really slow at times but overall I enjoyed it. Denise's narrative voice is really compelling, and the ending definitely left me impacted. An inIt was really slow at times but overall I enjoyed it. Denise's narrative voice is really compelling, and the ending definitely left me impacted. An interesting look into a world post-apocalypse, with a biracial black autistic girl, and tons of casual diversity? I definitely do recommend despite the slow pace....more
Mei: without; pronounced "may" You: to have; pronounced "yo"
Want is set in a near-future Taipei, where pollBoricuan Bookworms- Book Reviews
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Mei: without; pronounced "may" You: to have; pronounced "yo"
Want is set in a near-future Taipei, where pollution is extreme, and big corporations contaminate for profit. Cindy Pon’s world building is excellent and incredibly immersive. It’s easy to believe that this is what our world can become in 70 or 80 years time. We can see that this is direct criticism to today’s society; a society more concerned with profit than environmental collapse.
I’m never a big fan of sci-fi worlds, because they often seem too complex and unbelievable for me to immerse myself in. However, in Want, there’s a seamless bridge between the present and this near-future Cindy writes, each new concept or contraption explained without being overly simplified.
Our narrator is Jason Zhou, a hardened mei boy from the streets who has a particular love for butterfly knives. Zhou is loyal and determined, smart and cunning. He does whatever is needed for the mission, which was very admirable to me. I thought of him as a Slytherin, putting his goals above everything else; I loved that about him. Something else that’s amazing about Zhou? He’s a bookworm. *cheers*
Through Zhou’s mission we meet Daiyu, sole heiress to Jin Corp, the corrupt corporation that Zhou and the gang are trying to take down. With Daiyu we see that things aren’t actually black and white; that having the opulent lifestyle of a you doesn’t necessarily mean heartlessness and ignorance. Pon's writing is so nuanced in the way it explores the different types of privilege in that society, never making it seem heavy handed or insincere.
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My favorite aspect of this book by far was the group dynamics. Zhou isn’t a lone wolf, in fact he’s not even the leader of the group. Zhou, along with his friends, Lingyi, Arun, Victor, and Iris, all use their different skills and work together to take down Jin Corp. They’re all a tight-knit family, relying on each other when the rest of the world has forgotten about them. I loved that each member of the group had a deeply developed storyline which made me love each and every one of them. (My favorites are Lingyi, Iris, and Victor!)
The diversity here is wonderful, and it’s obvious that there was never any tokenization involved. Zhou and Daiyu are Taiwanese, Lingyi is Chinese and bi/pan, Iris is Asian-born (ethnicity unknown), Victor is filipino, and Arun is Indian. Lingyi and Iris are in a SUPER ADORABLE relationship, one that I actually shipped more than the main couple (oops).
The only reason I knocked a star off my rating was because of the pacing. I loved the constant pace the book was setting, where each twist and turn was leading up to something big. However, when the something big happens, the pacing suddenly speeds up so much that it felt like there was no time to process everything that was happening.
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Despite that slight issue, I still highly enjoyed this book and the way it was written. After reading Want I was left emotionally compromised and wanting to know what happened next. I immediately placed a hold on the rest of Cindy’s books because I couldn’t get enough of her writing. This is honestly one of my favorite books of the year, and I highly recommend it.
"We had wanted to change the world. This was only the beginning."
If you enjoy teens teaming up to destroy evil corporations, a bookworm boy who plays with knives, incredible group dynamics, and intricate world building, Want is the book for you. Don’t let it pass you by.
“We’re not Grace Glasser or Eva Brighton. Just Grace and Eva. Two girls who need to feel young and free, need to feel like girls. Need to scream from the top of a lighthouse and eat peanut butter out of a jar and swear and accidentally brush up against each other and giggle about it. So that’s what we do.”
In a way, this book is about mother/daughter relationships. It’s told from Grace’s POV, and from the beginning we see Grace’s complicated relationship with her mother. It’s a toxic relationship, and borderline emotionally abusive towards Grace. The way the author wrote this relationship felt so real and so raw.I could connect with Grace on a deeply personal level in a way, because I’ve been raised by a single mother. I understood Grace’s struggle of loving her mother but also not wanting to be responsible for her.
“… it’s so hard to say it. To confess that my own mother, the woman who gave me life and is supposed to love and cherish me above all else, forgets my age half the time.”
We could also see that Grace genuinely does love her mother Maggie, and it made my heart break for her. We could see that Maggie was unreliable, reckless, and clueless. The way the author wrote Grace and Maggie’s interactions made me ache because they were full of sadness and anger and everything in between.��On the other axis we have Eva, who recently lost her mother, so she’s struggling with adapting to being without her, and going through the different stages of grief. This book explored the grief so well, and it even made us see both Grace and Eva’s situations as parallels. What was worse? Having Grace’s absentee mother, or losing Eva’s loving one? This book really made me feel in a way I wasn’t expecting.
It wasn’t difficult for me to fall in love with Grace and Eva, or to immerse myself in their story. They first connect because they can find solace in each other from their grief, but then we see them actually start to open up to each other and fall in love. I’ve seen a lot of reviews criticizing that they wished there could’ve been more development to their relationship, but I personally loved it. Their interactions are sometimes subtle and cute, but they can also turn steamy and tension-filled at any second. I liked that their relationship progressed from friends to lovers and I loved that they were always really honest with each other. Grace and Eva are a perfect match to me.
This book is also very sex positive! There’s a sex scene and they both talk to each other and there’s mutual consent and discussion of what they’re comfortable with and I really enjoyed that. It’s important to have these scenes in YA. There’s also a masturbation scene that really helps with the taboo that is female masturbation, which again, was really well handled and should be more common in YA.
Props to this book for writing the most wonderful platonic friendship! Grace and Luca are best friends, but there’s never any kind of romantic tension between them or anything. They’re really close friends, and Luca is incredibly supportive and kind. His family is even like a second family to Grace, and this was so endearing to me. I loved this aspect a lot because Grace really needed a support system, and it was Luca and his family.
I couldn’t end my review without talking about one of the most important parts. The diversity! Grace is bisexual. Grace’s bisexuality means so much to me, because you can see the nuance with which it was touched upon in the story. Everyone accepts it easily, and there’s healthy discussion about what it means to Grace. The author is bisexual as well, which I’m sure accounts for the really well developed aspect. Other than Grace there’s also Eva, who’s lesbian and biracial. The biracial rep is incredibly important and extremely well done. I highly recommend you seeking out this book if you want to see some really great bisexual or biracial representation.
Overall, HOW TO MAKE A WISH is a poignant novel about mother/daughter relationships, grief, and two girls falling in love. It has ownvoices bisexual representation; lesbian rep, and biracial rep. It’s a book close to my heart that I think more people should read.
The Girl from Everywhere really deserves more hype.
I didn't expect much from it when I picked it up, because most peoBoricuan Bookworms- Book Reviews
The Girl from Everywhere really deserves more hype.
I didn't expect much from it when I picked it up, because most people weren't really talking about it at the time. However, I was quickly engrossed into the storyline thanks to the brilliant time travel aspect and the spectacular writing.
Nix and her father's crew travel through time and space using maps. If there’s a map, be it of a real of fictional place, they can travel to that particular place and time. The way Heidi wrote the traveling was so amazing! I felt like I was watching a movie; transfixed by the magical ship that traveled through time.
"I was a closed book, a rolled map, a dark territory uncharted; I was surprised by my urgency, but after all, to be known was to exist."
Another thing I liked about the book was Nix, although I know from other reviews that some readers didn't like her much. What I loved about her was the way she was so undeniably clever. She knew a lot about history of the different places they visited, because she would be the one to plot out the courses her father had to take to get what he wanted. You need tigers? Nix knows just the map. What about gold? Yep, she has a map for that, too. Nix was terribly undervalued, which made me like her all the more. Despite her strained relationship with her father, Nix still helped him and still wanted to see him happy. She was also so vulnerable, that it was hard for me not to love her. I wanted to help her, I wanted to comfort her because I felt like she deserved happiness.
This book has a love triangle, however it's very light and I think everyone who reads it knows exactly which guy they're rooting for. (view spoiler)[ Of course, the charming thief Kashmir. Kashmir was Nix's confidant, her right hand man; Kash could charm a snake out of their skin if he tried hard enough. So, yeah, Kashmir is the absolute best choice for Nix, and their chemistry is just so amazing that you can't possibly understand how the other guy even fit in the picture. (hide spoiler)] I mean, the other love interest is cute and all, but he's no love interest material for Nix. I understand why Nix was torn between the two of them: one was the dangerous, adventurous side of her, while the other is the safe side, the embodiment of a normal life that Nix so desperately wants. I found the love triangle to be extremely well developed and didn't really grate on my nerves like others would.
The writing is incredible, so vivid that it easily transports you to Hawaii in the 1800s, with vibrant descriptions of nature and delicious food. The historical research was obviously very extensive, as we get a good feel as to how the political and socioeconomic nature of Hawaii was back then as well. There’s mentions of Hawaii is facing problems against colonization and globalization, and we see that struggle throughout the book.
While this book is marketed as time travel, I think it focuses more on a heist. The heist seemed all kinds of impossible at first, but Nix, Slate, and Kashmir have to carefully plot it out. I loved this aspect as there was a lot of deception and secrets thrown all around, which led to wonderful surprises and plot twists along the way.
This book also has diversity AND it’s #OwnVoices! Nix is biracial (half-Chinese), but the book never just focuses on that. Nix isn't just the "half Chinese character”, but a brilliant girl who travels around the world. Kashmir is Persian, from a place that was set in a fairytale. Not to mention, there's Rotgut, a used to be monk, and Bee an African woman whose wife's spirit travels with her. I hope the next book focuses a bit more of Bee and Rotgut, because in the few pages they appeared in they totally stole the show for me.
Overall, this underrated book surprised me with its beautiful writing, captivating plot, and amazing characters. I think The Girl from Everywhere is a book you should totally add to your TBR because it's incredible!
A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss .
Marianne (Boricuan Bookworms)
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