A Song Below Water – review

Author: Bethany C. Morrow
Publication date: June 2, 2020
Genre: young adult, fantasy
My rating: 3.5/5 stars

First, I want to make something abundantly clear: this is a tremendously important book. It deals with lots of major issues that the Black community is currently facing, and has been facing for a long time, and it uses a highly unique premise (some very literal Black Girl Magic) to convey those ideas. I feel like I need to stress that part because this was one of those books that I loved in theory, just not in execution. I don’t want this review to be taken as, “This book isn’t important.” I think it is a book that is very, very much worth reading. However, it would be disingenuous for me to rate it higher, because it faltered in its actual writing, on technical elements like worldbuilding and pacing.

We Were All Someone Else Yesterday – review + quotes

Author: Omar Holmon
Publication date: May 12, 2020
Genre: poetry
My rating: 4/5 stars

In his quick, lively debut collection, poet Omar Holmon delivers a rollercoaster of emotions chronicling everything from the death of a parent to racism to love to the pride in being a nerd. This is a book that will make you laugh, but will also make you think, often in the same poem. It may not be hugely advertised, but this is a solid addition to Button Poetry’s catalog, as well as an excellent testament to the experiences of a Black nerd trying to navigate family and this complicated world we live in.

The Gravity of Us – mini-review

Author: Phil Stamper
Publication date: March 4, 2020
Genre: young adult, contemporary, LGBTQIA+, romance
My rating: 3.5/5 stars

You’ve got to admit, no matter what you think of the book, that this is a gorgeous cover.

Once again, I’m finding myself in a position where I’m a little too worn out to write full reviews, but I do have thoughts I want to share on books! To that end, I present you with this mini-review of a cute, if not remarkable, queer YA contemporary (with a splash of romance, a ton of commentary on media, and a hefty dose of outer space).

Audiobook review blitz – MG edition! (feat. The One and Only Ivan, Other Words for Home, & Ghost Squad)

As I mentioned before, I’ve been digging into a lot of middle-grade books this month, including quite a few on audiobook. You know the drill: mini-reviews are all coming up next. This time, we have a contemporary told from the point of view of a gorilla who lives in a mall (currently one of my favorite books of the year), a touching novel-in-verse about a girl who immigrates to the US from Syria, and a cute-and-spooky book that is loosely part Coco and part Ghostbusters.

Up first: the book that OH MY GOD I WAS NOT EMOTIONALLY PREPARED FOR.

Come Tumbling Down – mini-review

Author: Seanan McGuire
Series: Wayward Children, #5
Publication date: January 7, 2020
Genre: fantasy, portal fantasy
My rating: 4.5/5 stars

Let me start this by saying that Seanan McGuire is an absolute gem. Her writing is always brilliant, and I absolutely adore all the worlds she created in this series, so I of course was looking forward to getting to further explore them in this latest installment. In fact, after Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Jack and Jill quickly became my favorite characters in the series (alongside Kade, but alas, he hasn’t gotten his own book yet). However, this wasn’t a five-star read–honestly, it’s on the lower end of the 4.5-star rating. I guess I just didn’t quite feel the same “spark” with this one that I did with some others from the series. (Was that a pun referencing the excessive lightning in the Moors? Maybe…)

Anyway, given that it is a short book, I don’t quite feel up to a full review, but here is the publisher’s blurb, followed by my thoughts in a quick bulleted list for your enjoyment/reference. Please be aware, there are some spoilers in here for the earlier books in the series, if you haven’t read them yet–though, of course, no spoilers on this particular installment!

Aru Shah and the End of Time – review

Author: Roshani Chokshi
Series: Pandava Quartet, #1
Publication date: March 27, 2018
Genre: middle grade, fantasy
My rating: 4/5 stars

This was a cute and enjoyable read, for sure, with a delightful voice, a feisty and salty protagonist who was a little too relatable, and so much mythological fun. Obviously the #OwnVoices take on Indian mythology was a strong point in its favor. Seriously, props to Rick Riordan for helping support authors from other cultures in getting their mythologies into stories to be published and loved as much as his own Percy Jackson was. He could have written those books himself, but instead he decided to step away and let #OwnVoices authors take the spotlight. But I digress–let’s start with the publisher’s blurb!

Audiobook review blitz – Talking to Strangers, The Brilliant Death, & The Five

Oh boy, more audiobooks! Yaaaayyyy! In lieu of a long intro, I’ll just describe them quickly and then get straight to the mini-reviews. We have, in order, a social science book about miscommunication, a super-queer YA fantasy with genderfluid and genderqueer main characters, and a thoroughly-researched book detailing the lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper.

Audiobook review blitz: Know My Name, The Little Prince, & Over the Top

Hello, lovelies! With all the pandemic craziness going on in the world, I’ve been slacking on some of my reviews, but I’ve still been reading plenty (I think I’m at 23 books since shelter-in-place started?). A lot of that reading has been via audiobook as I go on walks in my neighborhood, drive to my grandma’s house to help her with things, or work on the endless task of cleaning in my room (seriously, how is it that I can clean everything and still have a disaster just days later?).

All that is to say, I have a lot of audiobooks to offer some opinions on, and you know what that means: another round or two of mini-reviews! This time, we have the striking story of a sexual assault survivor, a children’s classic, and a memoir of one of the stars of Queer Eye. Let’s get started!

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home – review

Authors: Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor
Publication date: May 5, 2020
Genre: fantasy, dark humor, horror
My rating: 5/5 stars

Do you like ghost stories? This book is for you!

Do you like revenge plots? This book is for you!

Do you like ragtag teams of criminals? This book is for you!

Do you like bizarre alternate versions of historical Europe? This book is for you!

Do you like dark humor and bitterly harsh realities? This book is for you!

Do you like Welcome to Night Vale? Obviously this book is for you; that’s probably what brought you to this review anyway, right?

Do you like sweet and happy endings? Dear god, please don’t read this book; find yourself something more wholesome.

This story can only turn out the way things happened. I cannot conjure a happy ending where none exists.

War and Speech – blog tour, review, and GIVEAWAY!!!

Author: Don Zolidis
Publication date: May 5, 2020
Genre: young adult, contemporary fiction, realistic fiction
My rating: 4/5 stars

Speech team kids, rejoice: finally, the art of competitive public speaking has crept into mainstream consciousness enough for us to get a whole book about forensics! (For those of you who haven’t taken part in the wild experience that is high school or college speech team, “forensics” is another term for speech team. Seriously, their national organization is the NFL–the National Forensics League. I couldn’t make this up if I wanted to.)

Regardless of whether you did speech or not, you could probably guess that speech culture is…well, not the most positive. And so Don Zolidis, known in the real-world forensics community for his wide range of hilarious plays, often used in competition, has now written a book that leans into the toxic speech team culture with a team of hilarious, sarcastic, scheming social outcasts who want to change things for the better.