Well this one is a hard one to rate and review and to read. It is told from the perspective of Mara who was a twin and loves her best friend and everyWell this one is a hard one to rate and review and to read. It is told from the perspective of Mara who was a twin and loves her best friend and everything changes after one party. After the party Mara's twin brother Owen is accused of raping one of Mara's friends and it's messy and complicated. This is by far one of the most realistic portrayals of sexual assault and how sexual assault is handled in society. I really appreciated that the characters were allowed to make their own decisions and had really decent character arcs. You felt the struggle that Mara went through with whether or not she was going to believe her brother or her friend and how she was supposed to make a decision.
I think that this book should be universally recommended of course with the content warning that this could absolutely be triggering regarding rape and sexual assault. There are on page descriptions of an assault and it is difficult to get through.
With that being said and while I did still enjoy this book and I would recommend it, I didn't love the secondary romance plot line and I didn't really like the secondary characters. A chunk of this book is taken up where Mara is trying to deal with her crash on her best friend Charlie. They dated and then they didn't date and it was unnecessarily complicated for an already complicated book. I don't think that there needed to be a romance in this and would have been just fine with a queer main character going through something truly traumatic.
One of my favorite parts of this book was actually Mara and Owens best friend Alex connecting and growing their friendship and grieving together. I thought that was a really nuanced and delicate plot and scene and was done exceptionally well....more
You would think that with a title like if tomorrow doesn't come I would have realized that this book discusses suicide and the end of the world but I You would think that with a title like if tomorrow doesn't come I would have realized that this book discusses suicide and the end of the world but I once again didn't read a synopsis. Don't be like me, friends, read the content warnings especially if you too deal with suicidal ideation or depression.
This one was a bit rough for me in terms of just hitting a little bit too hard but the book itself is wonderful and I definitely recommend it. Our main character is planning to commit suicide at the beginning of this book until she figures out that there is an asteroid headed for Earth that's going to hit in 9 days. So she ends up trying to get out of her college town and home to her family and her best friend who she's in love with. This is told in a present timeline but also has flashbacks throughout her life. It's incredibly well done and I even liked the ending....more
Oh my gosh there was so much happening in this book. And after finishing I can recognize that this book almost needs this many moving parts but in theOh my gosh there was so much happening in this book. And after finishing I can recognize that this book almost needs this many moving parts but in the moment it was a lot borderline too much. There's so many characters to follow and so many plot points that things get muddled and confusing and I feel like we lose a little bit of time with our main character....more
We love a found family here. I really fell in love with all the characters from blue and Levi's books and was really happy to see that Will got his owWe love a found family here. I really fell in love with all the characters from blue and Levi's books and was really happy to see that Will got his own story as well. I do wish this book had a prologue of the ghost tour that Will did with Jem because it's referenced so many times and I needed to know what happened and why it was so funny. Maybe I totally blanked and it was there and I dissociated during that entire chapter but I don't remember it being there. I actually just gas lit myself into going back and double-checking that there is not a prologue and can confirm but there is not. Someone tell me if there's a short story somewhere that I'm missing.
Anyway, I liked the ghosty elements to this and it was okay. I don't know if I was just so freaked out by the mysterious and amazing blue Billings that anything I'm reading afterward isn't leveling up, but this didn't feel the same. Obviously it's a different story and it's a different ghost and stuff but I wasn't as scared. I wanted more.
The last quarter of this book is the best part....more
This is a cozy, cute, and steamy novella. I initially picked this one up because of the fat representation, which is excellent, but I really liked theThis is a cozy, cute, and steamy novella. I initially picked this one up because of the fat representation, which is excellent, but I really liked the story as a whole too. With a Black fat bisexual main character with a Black sapphic love interest. There is a gay secondary character. This is a childhood friends who lose contact and then run into each other again and then go out on a date and fall in love.
I do think this could have been longer and it would have been better but it's solid as it is. It packs a lot into these 60 to 80 some pages. I honestly can't remember how long it is but it is short....more
It's no secret that the virginity trope is one of my least favorites but if you're going to do it this is how you do it. There is not a single ounce oIt's no secret that the virginity trope is one of my least favorites but if you're going to do it this is how you do it. There is not a single ounce of shaming in this book and there's even a very clear mention of how some people wait to have sex or never have sex and I really appreciated that from an asexual perspective. Knowing that the author is also ace is helpful in this but there have been previous books by her where this has not been the case and so I'm happy to see that her newer ones are a little bit more conscientious of that.
That being said, I really enjoyed this book but it is very meet cute and perfect. There's very little angst there's very little drama. I have to be in the right mood for books like this and it caught me at the right time. I needed something that wasn't going to take any mental energy to enjoy and so it really worked for me. I totally understand where other reviewers are coming from saying that the characters are too easy to enjoy and they didn't like that there's no real conflict etc.
I am not a sports gay but for some reason I find myself liking sports gay books. I feel like the one thing that really threw me off about this though was how popular Cobey was. Like I didn't know who a fucking linebacker was when I was in college. You're telling me that this entire college and community knows all of the football players? Maybe that is the case because I was very socially awkward and not into anything during college but it felt a little bit weird. It was almost like celebrity status with the way that he was photographed and people speculated about his romantic life and such. A bit odd but whatever.
I love fat queer representation and this was great representation. This is an easy and fun read but I don't know how memorable it's going to be to be I love fat queer representation and this was great representation. This is an easy and fun read but I don't know how memorable it's going to be to be honest. I liked it well enough and I especially loved when the fat main character called out one of her friends for being unintentionally fatphobic, but I didn't love it. It's fine. I totally throw it on a summer reading list and recommend it as a fun summer queer read but it's not landing on my favorites list....more
Everything about this book is amazing. It follows a black bisexual girl who has severe anxiety and agoraphobia through a summer of challenges.
The begiEverything about this book is amazing. It follows a black bisexual girl who has severe anxiety and agoraphobia through a summer of challenges.
The beginning of this book her girlfriend breaks up with her and then she witnesses police brutality and it sends her spiraling. As much as she wants to be an activist and go march and advocate for people she is stuck in her house. Even the thought of walking down her front steps is paralyzing.
I really loved all of the characters in this book and appreciated that they are all imperfect and have their own challenges to get through. As Sadie slowly works her way through the summer through our mind activism and growing her relationships with her best friend and her brother and her parents and also the cute new boy who moved in next door.
I really appreciated how this book tackled a lot of heavy topics in a way that was digestible. I don't want that to come off wrong because heavy books have their space and heavy topics deserve the weight and gravity of how serious they are yet this book packs a lot of discussions in.
There are content warnings for police violence, racism, homophobia, biphobia from both sides including from a queer person and from a straight person, anxiety, panic attacks and more so please go into this book cautiously.
I will say that I listened to this as an audiobook and I would have never known that it was a novel in verse if it wasn't a part of the summary. There are some awkward pauses in the narration but not enough to portray that the chapters are verse. I don't think that this is a detriment but I do think that there is something different that you will get out of the book if you listen to it versus read it. This is definitely one that I would buy a physical copy of and go back and read the physical copy as well....more
So like I really liked this but I was expecting more? I don't know if it was just the hype or that I've really only seen gushing reviews about this buSo like I really liked this but I was expecting more? I don't know if it was just the hype or that I've really only seen gushing reviews about this but it was fine and it was a good romance book and I'm not mad about buying the audiobook but I didn't love it the way I was expecting to.
I think a lot of it boils down to the fact that I wanted more from everyone. I would have loved dual POV and the best part of this book is the kid but it was still a good book.
The anxiety representation is really great but I think this one could have done more. I'm still going to read the rest of this author's books though....more
This was spooky! Like I accidentally listened to a part of it when I was getting ready for bed and had to immediately change to something cuter becausThis was spooky! Like I accidentally listened to a part of it when I was getting ready for bed and had to immediately change to something cuter because I was not about to have nightmares about dripping skeleton girls on my ceiling.
I am not a horror girly but this book was very good. It's about our main character who is a bisexual type one diabetic with a service animal who goes to volunteer at this mansion thingy to help restore it for the historical society but her real purpose there is to uncover the ghost and figure out what happened to the original owners daughter who drowned.
I feel like this book didn't need a romance. It felt like a secondary plot line and I love queer representation and sapphic representation but I don't think it did anything for this book besides give representation. Please don't come for me I just wanted it to be a little bit more developed. It was all of a sudden they were kind of flirting giving each other eyes and then they kissed and then they stopped and then they were dating and it was just a bit muddled for me.
I do want to give the spoiler that the service animal does not die because I legitimately would have skipped this book had I not had that guarantee. I cannot handle dead dogs, okay?
This was a solid read for me. It wasn't a new favorite but it also is one that I am going to hang on to my physical copy so do with that what you will. It will definitely be in my spooky stacks moving forward....more
A book with two bi main characters! Yay! So this is my second go at a Jennifer Dugan book and I really really liked this one a lot more than hot dog gA book with two bi main characters! Yay! So this is my second go at a Jennifer Dugan book and I really really liked this one a lot more than hot dog girl. This one felt so nuanced and complex in the way that it allowed these two characters to evolve and figure out how to exist as a couple and separately. I think that it tackles some heavier themes including attempted suicide, parental neglect, physical and emotional abuse from parents, and co-dependency.
The codependency route was what made me like this book the most simply for the fact that so often YA books end with these two kids completely enamored with one another and that's that but this book takes it one step farther and says hey maybe that's not healthy let's find a way to be together in a healthy way. I think that that is an incredibly important message for YA books to have and one that I loved seeing as an adult.
I also just absolutely live for m/f queer couples. They are so underrepresented and underappreciated within the queer community. Your partner does not define your queerness and your relationship is still queer even if it is "straight passing" (but I really hate that term so let's not go there)
This whole book is about these two teenagers who one of them is the daughter of an indie comic owner/writer and the other is a son of a corporate comic store CEO. They meet at a convention and up starting a friendship over texting. There is a lying component to this so just as a heads up but it is resolved at about halfway through the book so you don't have to wait until the very very end for that component to be dealt with like we did in Hot Dog Girl....more
I still don't know how I feel about this one. It was weird but not in a good way. I didn't know that I wouldn't automatically love a book about six quI still don't know how I feel about this one. It was weird but not in a good way. I didn't know that I wouldn't automatically love a book about six queer witches but I lost track of who was who. There's so many characters that they didn't really stand out from one another.
Now what I do remember and what I really liked about the book was that the love interest was fat and desired for exactly the way she was which is a breath of fresh air but not enough to make me love the book. Like it was fine but I'll probably unhaul my copy....more
This was okay. I didn't love it the way that I loved Delilah Green and I genuinely think it's because Astrid and Jordan are just not as developed. ForThis was okay. I didn't love it the way that I loved Delilah Green and I genuinely think it's because Astrid and Jordan are just not as developed. For a book that says you can read it as a standalone if you haven't read the first one, you lose so much context and background information that is not repeated or reiterated in this specific book.
Like even the idea that Astrid last year was getting married and was engaged to this terrible fiance is only glanced at. Which is wild to me because the only reason you know why Astrid has all of these complex thoughts about her own sexuality and relationship and job and mom and sister are because of the first book. If you're going to say it can be a standalone, you have to put the information in the book.
Moving on. I just felt like this one didn't have as much oomph or heart to it. And there were so many directions it could go and it just didn't go in any of them.
I also saw it mentioned in another review about Astrid's super phenomenal gaydar that she can even tell what sexuality book characters are without having read the book. Like there's a scene where she's going through one of her friends bookshelves and there's all these queer contemporary books on it and I've read most of them so I actually recognized it but she just knows that the main characters are bi even though it's not anywhere in the summary. It was a little bit wild to me. And that's just one of those weird oversights that is added to a couple of the other inconsistencies.
I didn't dislike this book, but I wanted more from it. I especially wanted more regarding her mom. From having a narcissistic mom, I feel like there was a lot of potential there and it just wasn't explored.
Not to mention how is this book 400 pages yet I feel like nothing happened. Wild....more
To literally no one's surprise Becky Albertalli wrote a phenomenal book. I laughed and cried and felt a whole shit ton of feelings. My heart hurts knoTo literally no one's surprise Becky Albertalli wrote a phenomenal book. I laughed and cried and felt a whole shit ton of feelings. My heart hurts knowing that so much of the story is based on Becky's own experience.
Simon Vs was the first queer book I read as an adult and I vividly remember reading it and it was before I came out as queer and I feel like I have such a strong connection to Becky's books and her experiences cuz they're just so relatable. Feel like I really come full circle and see so much of myself too in Imogen. I think that Imogen is my favorite of her books and I cannot recommend it enough!...more
I just don't know how I feel about a main character who uses her friend in order to break up a couple because she likes the guy. I mean the ending of I just don't know how I feel about a main character who uses her friend in order to break up a couple because she likes the guy. I mean the ending of this was cute and I liked the last five or six chapters maybe but the first two thirds were a little bit rough. Mostly just annoying because it takes some sort of "white man audacity" to think that you have the right to meddle in someone else's relationship just because you like one of them. I mean I'm pretty sure that she says something along the lines of if I can break them up then they weren't that strong to begin with or some nonsense. Like get your freaking head out of someone else's business.
Do I think the couple in question was good for each other or meant to be? Of course not but I still think it was a shitty thing to have as the main premise of the book.
The best part of this whole book is the MC's dad and her best friend Seeley.
This was ADORABLE. Not only is the story itself super freaking cute and I love all of the representation but I especially liked that we got younger maThis was ADORABLE. Not only is the story itself super freaking cute and I love all of the representation but I especially liked that we got younger main characters and I think my favorite part was actually the kids relationships with their parents. It was so wholesome and cute and I know I'm getting old because I related to the mom and her jokes ...more
So it has been like a week since I finished this and that's on me because I really need to write my reviews immediately because my brain just loses alSo it has been like a week since I finished this and that's on me because I really need to write my reviews immediately because my brain just loses all information so quickly. I thought this was a good romance book and one that I enjoyed but it wasn't anything mind-blowing. I really liked the ending from what I can remember....more
This was so sweet and low-angst and I KNOW it's the last one that's gonna be like this and I'm not ready for the emotional turmoil that's coming This was so sweet and low-angst and I KNOW it's the last one that's gonna be like this and I'm not ready for the emotional turmoil that's coming ...more
Okay so I am here for messy queer rep and this is the messiest of queer rep. Our MC ends up using a school project to try and sort through her feelingOkay so I am here for messy queer rep and this is the messiest of queer rep. Our MC ends up using a school project to try and sort through her feelings for three different people. One is her ex boyfriend, who also has a girlfriend, another is her straight best friend and the last is a new girl at school who just radiated queer energy.
This book is all over the place at times and I did mix up some of the characters near the beginning, but I got there. As a whole, I LOVED the fact that there's this huge importance of celebrating all your relationships, not just the romantic ones. That brought me so much joy....more
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