Review: Rick by Alex Gino

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Rick by Alex Gino

Published: 7th May 2020 | Publisher: Scholastic | Source: Bought
Alex Gino’s Website

Rick's never questioned much. He's gone along with his best friend Jeff even when Jeff's acted like a bully and a jerk. He's let his father joke with him about which hot girls he might want to date even though that kind of talk always makes him uncomfortable. And he hasn't given his own identity much thought, because everyone else around him seemed to have figured it out.

But now Rick's gotten to middle school, and new doors are opening. One of them leads to the school's Rainbow Spectrum club, where kids of many genders and identities congregate, including Melissa, the girl who sits in front of Rick in class and seems to have her life together. Rick wants his own life to be that . . . understood. Even if it means breaking some old friendships and making some new ones.

As they did in their groundbreaking novel Melissa, in Rick, award-winning author Alex Gino explores what it means to search for your own place in the world . . . and all the steps you and the people around you need to take in order to get where you need to be. From The StoryGraph.

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Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features homophobia, bullying, asexual and aromantic erasure.

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Review: Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler

Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler

Published: 7th June 2022 | Publisher: Wednesday Books | Source: Bought
Dahlia Adler’s Website

Amber McCloud’s dream is to become cheer captain at the end of the year, but it’s an extra-tall order to be joyful and spirited when the quarterback of your team has been killed in a car accident. For both the team and the squad, watching Robbie get replaced by newcomer Jack Walsh is brutal. And when it turns out Jack is actually short for Jaclyn, all hell breaks loose.

The players refuse to be led by a girl, the cheerleaders are mad about the changes to their traditions, and the fact that Robbie’s been not only replaced but outshined by a QB who wears a sports bra has more than a few Atherton Alligators in a rage. Amber tries for some semblance of unity, but it quickly becomes clear that she’s only got a future on the squad and with her friends if she helps them take Jack down.

Just one problem: Amber and Jack are falling for each other, and if Amber can’t stand up for Jack and figure out how to get everyone to fall in line, her dream may come at the cost of her heart. From The StoryGraph.

The StoryGraph | Goodreads

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features bullying, masturbation, misogyny, references to death by car accident, reference to drink-driving, reference to abortion and miscarriage, homophobia, multiple references to outing blackmail.

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A New Direction for Once Upon a Bookcase:

Now an LGBTQ+ Children's & Fantasy Book Blog

It's the last day of Pride Month, and there's no better time to announce that there is going to be a change of direction for Once Upon a Bookcase. From now on, this blog will be a primarily LGBTQ+ book blog!

We are getting such a range of LGBTQ+ stories now, across a range of genres, and there's so much to read! I've also found that I'm generally drawn to queer fiction over cishet fiction. And with the work I'm doing at the bookshop I work at on the permanent LGBTQ+ YA section, the permanent LGBTQ+ YA & MG table, and LGBTQ+ books in the Children's Department as a whole, I'm so hugely passionate about these books, and that passion has me wanting to do more. To shout about them loudly outside of work more. To read more widely, to highlight them here, to help, in another way, queer readers find the right books for them.

Continue reading A New Direction for Once Upon a Bookcase: Now an LGBTQ+ Children's & Fantasy Book Blog

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Recommending LGBTQ+ MG & YA Graphic Novels

Looking after the LGBTQ+ YA section at Foyles, and seeing how well it's done, I've also worked on trying to put together lists of other queer titles in the Children's Department and try to make sure we've got stock in, in order to recommend titles if we're asked. As it's Pride Month, I thought I'd share some of those lists, so you can stock up for the younger readers in your life.

Today, I'm sharing a range of middle grade and YA graphic novels with LGBTQ+ characters. Some of the titles listed might technically be "adult" titles, but they have cross over appeal featuring teen characters, and no inappropriate content for teens. On to the books!

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Review: The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

I received an eProof for free from Orbit via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

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The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Published: 8th June 2021 | Publisher: Orbit | Source: Bought
Tasha Suri’s Website

One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne.
The other is a priestess searching for her family.
Together, they will change the fate of an empire.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of powerful magic – but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one of several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to attend Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, as long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides. But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled... From The StoryGraph.

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The StoryGraph | Goodreads

;">Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features forced drug use, body horror, execution as entertainment, and people burning alive.

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Review: Bad Things Happen Here by Rebecca Barrow {#Ad)

I was sent this proof for free by Hot Key Books for the purposes of providing an honest review.

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Bad Things Happen Here by Rebecca Barrow

Published: 28th June 2022 | Publisher: Hot Key Books | Source:
Rebecca Barrow’s Website

With compelling characters, broken friendships and complicated romances, Bad Things Happen Here is the irresistible YA murder mystery thriller: it makes your heart race, your toes curl, and your mind whirl with deadly secrets, dark truths and the innate need to escape a poisonous paradise.

The island of Parris: paradise or poison?

Luca Laine Thomas lives in Parris, the beautiful island plagued by the unsolved deaths of young women - most significantly, Luca's best friend. All Luca wants is to heal from the traumatic loss and leave her feelings of guilt and helplessness behind.

Then Luca comes home to find the police at her house. Her sister, Whitney, is dead.

Luca and Naomi, the new girl next door, decide to take the investigation into their own hands, and along the way their connection deepens. Soon, their casual touches and innocent flirtations become something way more real. But finding out what happened on the night of Whitney's disappearance reveals lie upon lie.

Nothing is as it seems. Will Luca's search finally reveal truth about her sister's murder? And will she unravel and escape the clutches of the curse and survive Parris? From The StoryGraph.

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The StoryGraph | Goodreads

Trigger/Content Warnings: This book features blood, vomit, anxiety and panic attacks, depression, reference to drug use, masturbation, reference to arson, reference to someone burning alive, a corpse, fatphobia, racism, self-harm, reference to discrimination of those with mental illness, suicide ideation, and reference to rape.

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Review: Picture Books for Pride

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Being that it's Pride, I thought it was appropriate to squeal over some of the beautiful picture books for young children that have been published specifically relating to Pride! They are gorgeous and beautiful, and I adore them!

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