Review: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli (#Ad)

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

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

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, 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, and there's absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right? From Goodreads.

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Review: The Unpredictability of Being Human by Linni Ingemundsen

The Unpredictability of Being Human by Linni Ingemundsen (proof) - Meet Malin, a fourteen-year-old who sees the world differently. Malin knows she couldn’t change much about her life, even if she got to play God. Her dad would still yell all the time – especially as Malin is still friends with Hanna, the girl she met shoplifting. Her mum would still say a glass of wine is good for her heart – and Mum needs it, with Malin’s brother, Sigve, getting into trouble all the time. And Malin would still be Malin. Because she can’t be anybody else.

In a voice bursting with immediacy and truth, Malin shares the absurdities of growing up and fitting in as her family struggles with the buried pain of mistakes made and secrets kept.

Profound, compassionate and as funny as it is dark, Malin’s story is an offbeat examination and celebration of the brutal, bizarre and beautiful unpredictability of being human. From Goodreads.

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The Little Mermaid and Its Retellings

Painting of a mermaid I bought in in Denmark, where the Hans Christian Andersen is from.
My favourite fairy tale is The Little Mermaid. I was first drawn to the Disney movie as a child because Ariel had red hair like me, got to swim with all the fish - I love fish - and could sing. I knew Hans Christian Andersen had written the original story, and I knew that it differed quite a bit from the Disney version; that the prince didn't love the mermaid, that her sisters gave her a knife from the sea witch to kill the prince with, and that she instead killed herself. But it wasn't until I was a teenager that I actually read the original story, and I fell even more in love with The Little Mermaid. The tragedy of the story is what appealed to me most, how heartbreaking it is; this poor little mermaid who gave up everything for a chance at happiness, and ended up dying instead. There's something I've always found quite beautiful about a tragic story.

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Review: Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed (#Ad)

Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

I received this eProof for free from Hot Key Books via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

A searing #OwnVoices coming-of-age debut in which an Indian-American Muslim teen confronts Islamophobia and a reality she can neither explain nor escape.

Maya Aziz is torn between futures: the one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter (i.e.; staying nearby in Chicago and being matched with a "suitable" Muslim boy), and the one where she goes to film school in New York City--and maybe, just maybe, kisses a guy she's only known from afar. There's also the fun stuff, like laughing with her best friend Violet, making on-the-spot documentaries, sneaking away for private swimming lessons at a secret pond in the woods. But her world is shattered when a suicide bomber strikes in the American heartland; by chance, he shares Maya's last name. What happens to the one Muslim family in town when their community is suddenly consumed with hatred and fear?

Trigger Warning: Terrorist attack and Islamophobia.

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Review: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (Bought) - As children, sisters Gillian and Sally were forever outsiders in their small New England town, teased, taunted and shunned for the air of magic that seems to sparkle in the air around them. All Gillian and Sally ever wanted was to get away.

And eventually they do - one marries, the other runs as far from home as she can manage.

Years later, however, tragedy will bring the sisters back together. And they’ll find that no matter what else may happen, they’ll always have each other. An enchanting tale of love, forgiveness and family, Practical Magic is beloved of readers of all ages. From Goodreads.

Trigger warning: Rape, domestic violence, and stalking.

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Discussion: My Thoughts on Sensitivity Readers and the Censorship Argument

On Christmas Eve,  an article went up on the New York Times, 'In an Era of Online Outrage, Do Sensitivity Readers Result in Better Books, or Censorship?' There was a lot of anger at this article as a number of those who were interviewed for it in favour of sensitivity readers had a lot of what they said cut short. The major points they had to say were left out. Then, on Christmas Day, author Joyce Carol Oates, in a quote tweet to Dhonielle Clayton (YA author of upcoming The Belles) - who was tweeting about how she was angry with the article, that not everything she had to say in the interview was included, and that she would like to write about the reason sensitivity readers are needed is because publishing favours the privileged over the marginalised -  spewed a lot of racist tweets about how if people don't like the stories, don't read them, and they should start their own publishing houses to get their books published. As you can imagine, that really didn't go down well with anyone, and a lot of people hit back hard.

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Review: A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry

A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry (eProof) - Everyone knows the legends about the cursed girl--Isabel, the one the señoras whisper about. They say she has green skin and grass for hair, and she feeds on the poisonous plants that fill her family’s Caribbean island garden. Some say she can grant wishes; some say her touch can kill.

Seventeen-year-old Lucas lives on the mainland most of the year but spends summers with his hotel-developer father in Puerto Rico. He’s grown up hearing stories about the cursed girl, and he wants to believe in Isabel and her magic. When letters from Isabel begin mysteriously appearing in his room the same day his new girlfriend disappears, Lucas turns to Isabel for answers--and finds himself lured into her strange and enchanted world. But time is running out for the girl filled with poison, and the more entangled Lucas becomes with Isabel, the less certain he is of escaping with his own life. From Goodreads.

I received this eProof for free from Algonquin Young Readers via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

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19 Eagerly Anticipated 2018 Releases

Happy New Year, everyone! It's now 2018, which means a whole year of books to look forward to. I thought I would share with you some of the books I am eagerly anticipating!

Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp
2nd January 2018


I absolutely loved Nijkamps' debut novel, This is Where it Ends, and her second novel sounds so good! About Corey returning to her home town to find her best friend, Kyra, is dead, and the secrets the town is keeping regarding her death and what happened. It's also a diverse novel with Corey being on the ace/aro spectrum, Kyra having feelings for Corey, and disability involved somehow.

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Mini Review: The Humans by Matt Haig

The Humans by Matt Haig (Bought) - It's hardest to belong when you're closest to home . . .

One wet Friday evening, Professor Andrew Martin of Cambridge University solves the world's greatest mathematical riddle. Then he disappears.

When he is found walking naked along the motorway, Professor Martin seems different. Besides the lack of clothes, he now finds normal life pointless. His loving wife and teenage son seem repulsive to him. In fact, he hates everyone on the planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton. And he's a dog.

Can a bit of Debussy and Emily Dickinson keep him from murder? Can the species which invented cheap white wine and peanut butter sandwiches be all that bad? And what is the warm feeling he gets when he looks into his wife's eyes? From Goodreads.

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