While the early parts of this memoir focus on the author's sexual history (sometimes in great detail), it's the latter part that really got me--where While the early parts of this memoir focus on the author's sexual history (sometimes in great detail), it's the latter part that really got me--where it stops being about the who/what of bisexuality and digs more deeply into the why and what it means, at a personal level and in the wider world. They are privileged (white, cis) but don't pretend to have always been aware of that--they freely admit to ignorance and the efforts they've made to correct it, while still recognizing that they are a work in progress. Overall, I appreciated the honesty in this memoir. This is someone who is a flawed person trying to do better, and really, who among us isn't?...more
Oh, Monty. Perfect is the enemy of the good. But it's so sweet that he wants his first time with Percy to be perfect. And he tries so hard, and wants Oh, Monty. Perfect is the enemy of the good. But it's so sweet that he wants his first time with Percy to be perfect. And he tries so hard, and wants so badly, and... fails so spectacularly, so many times. Looking forward to the next installment!...more
The Solu Cruise to Lose is set to sail, and it's packed with celebs, wealthy folks, wealthy celebs, and Laurel, who is accompanying her bff Viv. Solu The Solu Cruise to Lose is set to sail, and it's packed with celebs, wealthy folks, wealthy celebs, and Laurel, who is accompanying her bff Viv. Solu is a new miracle sweetener about to hit the market--one that actually causes weight loss. Nearly everyone on the ship is eager to try it and hoping the hype is true. It seems to work almost instantly, and Laurel--whose seasickness prevented her from eating anything for the first day or two--sees the change coming over people immediately. The other person not partaking is Tom, a now-grown child star whose personal trainer keeps him on a strict diet and exercise regimen. Tom and Laurel have a few unfortunate run-ins (she barfs on him; he knocks her down in a breakdance-gone-wrong) but become a Thing anyway, and they try to get people off the Solu.
Vaguely dystopian, with other messages about self-acceptance (Laurel's just fine with her curvy body, thankyewverymuch) and addiction. It's a very long six days on the boat....more
A quiet life with her girlfriend. That's all Maren wants. But then her girlfriend is taken by the Aurati, who believe she may be the one of prophecy. A quiet life with her girlfriend. That's all Maren wants. But then her girlfriend is taken by the Aurati, who believe she may be the one of prophecy. Maren has no choice: she sets off on her own to rescue Kaia in a plan that involves breaking into a fortress and stealing a dragon.
Action/adventure, GLBTQ representation. I'm glad to see this is first in a series (as much as I'd love a stand-alone fantasy); the book was slow to start but very quick to end, and left a number of plot threads dangling....more
The next installment at Berrybrook Middle School focuses on Jorge, who looks out for others and is a great friend. He also has a huge crush on JazmineThe next installment at Berrybrook Middle School focuses on Jorge, who looks out for others and is a great friend. He also has a huge crush on Jazmine. Of course there's plenty of school dreams and social hierarchy and general middle school shenanigans, but it mostly works out.
My middle schoolers love this series (it goes out regularly), and I love the subtle ways differences are woven in. The characters are diverse, though no explicit mention is made of it (they're just kids, that's all), there are some gay characters (the new drama teacher mentions her wife a few times); the PE teacher wears a hijab. Jorge stops Jazmine's ex from trying to talk to her by telling him "she doesn't owe you a thing and doesn't want to talk to you." Very positive messages for middle schoolers to see!...more
Simon has been writing--anonymously--with another boy at school, another boy who is gay, and they've been falling in love by email. The problem is theSimon has been writing--anonymously--with another boy at school, another boy who is gay, and they've been falling in love by email. The problem is the anonymity, meaning neither knows who the other is. But somebody knows Simon's secret, and is blackmailing him with it. Simon isn't out to anyone (except Blue, the email friend), but he could soon be outed to the whole school.
Coming of age, coming out, and friend drama, with a side of supportive parents. If my heart weren't made of stone I'd be having All the Feels....more
Here's what I think happened: EDITOR: People went nuts for that trilogy you wrote! You need to write more! ADAMS: I dunno; I think it's time to move on.Here's what I think happened: EDITOR: People went nuts for that trilogy you wrote! You need to write more! ADAMS: I dunno; I think it's time to move on. E: You never answered that thing about the dolphins! A: That's a true statement. E: Great, you'll do it! Add in a woman this time. A: To what? E: to the new book! A: What new book? E: Women dig romance, Dougie. Let's give 'em what they want.
And that's how the Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy acquired a romcom as Book 4. This one had its moments (the very last ones, with Marvin and the final message from God) but really doesn't fit the rest of the series.
Girding my literary loins for Young Zaphod Plays it Safe and Mostly Harmless. I'd probably wander off here if they weren't all in one file on my reader....more
I don't have much to say about this besides a giant "awwww!" and some joy at seeing people snub the Wedding Industrial Complex.I don't have much to say about this besides a giant "awwww!" and some joy at seeing people snub the Wedding Industrial Complex....more
Shauzia has been in a refugee camp, but still drama of making it to the sea, and then to France. She believes she can make it on her own, and does welShauzia has been in a refugee camp, but still drama of making it to the sea, and then to France. She believes she can make it on her own, and does well for a while after leaving the camp. But circumstances force her to accept help from others, and to share the burdens of the less fortunate.
This third installment of the Breadwinner series doesn't capture the place as well as Parvana's story does--it lacks the sense of place, of setting, that gives the book its foundation.
Nice to see when Shauzia's story takes her, but I'd have preferred to stick with Parvana and her family....more
She's exciting, he's charming: Natalie and Dan fell in love almost instantly. But that was some time ago, and now Natalie is sending Dan packets of leShe's exciting, he's charming: Natalie and Dan fell in love almost instantly. But that was some time ago, and now Natalie is sending Dan packets of letters detailing moments of their relationship. The letters start out sweet, but as we shift to Dan's perspective, he's waiting for the other shoe to drop: he knows there's a big reveal coming. Natalie wants Dan to know how much she loved him and how much he hurt her. Dan wants Natalie to understand how her jealous rages destroyed them both. Their he-said, she-said narrative brings the reader along through their toxic slow-motion train wreck of a relationship.
Seeing the story largely through Dan's eyes--through conversations with his friends and his reactions to Natalie's letters--means that readers get a biased analysis of what went wrong, highlighting in particular Natalie's temper and instability while downplaying Dan's flirty behaviors with his other friends. This is a decent choice for teens who enjoyed Daniel Handler's 2011 Why We Broke Up but wish it had had more drama....more
This line is really the crux of the whole book: Adam struggles with his evangelical family, but today there's much mor"Please don't leave me unloved."
This line is really the crux of the whole book: Adam struggles with his evangelical family, but today there's much more than that. Today is Enzo's going-away party: Enzo, who Adam loved once; Enzo who broke it off saying that their eighteen months together were juxtaposition were just messing around. Today, Adam's boss holds Adam's job in a predatory ultimatum. Today, Adam's bff tells him about the senior-year program she's leaving for in a couple of weeks.
Today. Today. Today.
But today there are people on Adam's side. Today, Adam's boyfriend provides comfort and strength. Today, there are friends who have his back. There are people who love him, without condition; people who are his family without being blood relations.
This is all intercut with the story of a vengeful ghost; they come together in a decent-but-not-satisfying way. The ghost storyline is also about finding the people who will support you no matter what, and about love and trust and support. this whole storyline could be scrapped with very little impact on the book, which is beautiful and heartbreaking and affirming....more
Madeline has spent the entirety of her 18 years inside. She has a rare disease--SCID, an immunodeficiency disease--that makes her allergic to everythiMadeline has spent the entirety of her 18 years inside. She has a rare disease--SCID, an immunodeficiency disease--that makes her allergic to everything. The outside world is deadly. People can't come into the house without a lengthy decontamination. Her books come prepackaged and shrink-wrapped. Her classes all happen via Skype with online tutors. Her friends are her mom and Carla, the nurse who is with her 8 hours a day.
And then Olly moves in next door. They communicate through their windows, then by email, then IM. They are an adorable couple, if you can call them a couple when they can't be in the same house. Carla consents, eventually, to brief visits following the decontamination, and Olly and Maddy get closer. There's even kissing (in violation of the NO TOUCHING parameters Carla has set). Maddy is starting to realize just how much she's missing due to her illness, and hatches a plan to truly LIVE, if even briefly.
Okay, so the love story is totally cute and romantic and sweet and Olly is a good guy. (view spoiler)[I did see the truth of Maddy's diagnosis long before she did (I kind of expected it was some sort of Munchausen's by Proxy thing from somewhere before we'd even met the neighbors), and was surprised by the health episode in Hawaii; I still think the heart issue from a virus was overdone and expected it to be something normal like a shellfish allergy. (hide spoiler)] Still, teens will love this, especially those looking for another book like The Fault in Our Stars....more
It's been an incredibly rainy spring in Aberdeen, and the town is starting to flood. Residents are being evacuated, but there's talk of government buyIt's been an incredibly rainy spring in Aberdeen, and the town is starting to flood. Residents are being evacuated, but there's talk of government buyouts--and rumors of a development deal, if only they can get the people to move. Keeley is trying to hold onto everything--the town she loves, her best friends, the boy she's loved for years. All good things come to an end--but do they have to?
I was engrossed in the story, but by the halfway point I was DONE with Keeley, the main character. Bad decisions, selfish behavior, a pathological need to be the clown even when it's obviously not the right time. It's no surprise that other people get sick of her. I was sick of her. she needs more of an arc to her character, and secondary characters could stand to be more than a backdrop for Keeley's antics.
Georgie has been living the dream--awesome job writing TV sitcoms with her bff, and get amazing husband and their two daughters. and then she prioritiGeorgie has been living the dream--awesome job writing TV sitcoms with her bff, and get amazing husband and their two daughters. and then she prioritizes work--again--over her family, and her husband takes the kids on their Christmas trip to Omaha without her.
Georgie's cell is dead, so she calls Neal at his mom's from the landline. Which somehow (picture jazz hands here: **magic!**) calls 1998 Neal, the Christmas in college when they almost broke up.
I enjoyed this--it was the caliber of rom-com I can actually handle, not too saccharine. But it was still kind of predictable in places, and while it read quickly was still a little slow.
my own husband isn't home right now, but I really want to hug him right now....more
mixed feelings. This had a warm tranquility to a lot of it, with the dramas and heartache to be expected in this Civil War era.
From a modern perspectmixed feelings. This had a warm tranquility to a lot of it, with the dramas and heartache to be expected in this Civil War era.
From a modern perspective, this is horrifying -- the implication that marriage is the only way to live a good life, the gender roles that are so expressly stated, the class issues that are front and center. But it's also a very brave book -- the character of Jo putting more with on her own life than what life would be with a husband, and her unwillingness to be subservient to anyone. Even when she does accept a man into her life, it's only when she's sure that her own Needs will be met, and not put aside for her husband's desires.
Everyone else is pretty boring, though, and a firm lesson in Why I'm Glad I Didn't Live in 1870....more
I struggled with this one. Admittedly, I've been in a Reading slump lately, but I wanted so badly to love this. But..
I love the premise: Finn is the oI struggled with this one. Admittedly, I've been in a Reading slump lately, but I wanted so badly to love this. But..
I love the premise: Finn is the only person who saw Roza taken away, and he didn't know what to make of it. Did she want to leave? Why can't his description of the kidnapper be enough? Finn knows that the inability to find Roza is his fault, but what can he do to repair his relationship with his brother, who blames him for her disappearance? Finn doesn't even understand why is description is different than anyone else's would be anyway. He doesn't realize that he's face-blind, that "regular" people don't rely on secondary features (hair color, the way someone moves) like he does. He doesn't know that other people can make sense of faces.
I loved Finn. I loved Petey. I loved their relationship--face-blind Finn and bee-faced Petey, whose way of carrying herself is Queen-Bee enough for Finn to recognize her anywhere. I loved Finn's relationship with his hurt and damaged brother Sean. I loved Roza's strength, coming from Poland and experiencing... whatever she experienced before coming to Sean's farm.
I didn't love the way reality crumbled around the reader. I love the shifts in reality when AS King does things like this, but in her books it always feels organic; it makes sense within the world. Here, it feels like the author wrote herself into a corner and played the "it's magic!" card to get out of it, and it didn't seem right to me.
Wanted to love this; it's gotten such great buzz (ha) and it seems so in my wheelhouse. But it didn't hold together as well as I wanted it to....more
In the summer of 1343, Santina pines away for her tutor, but her father finds him unsuitable and forbids them to marry. Heartbroken, Santina begins viIn the summer of 1343, Santina pines away for her tutor, but her father finds him unsuitable and forbids them to marry. Heartbroken, Santina begins visiting the village midwife, an old friend of her late mother's. Santina throws herself into midwifery to distract herself from her lost love and father's demands, but the townspeople--her father included--suspect that she has apprenticed herself to a witch. This suspicion only grows stronger when Santina and the midwife perform an unusual procedure to save the lives of a mother and child at the center of a political scandal. Santina has to follow her own heart and ambitions in order to save herself from an unwanted marriage--and to save those around her from the coming plague. ...more
Montana's been looking forward to this summer--the one just before her senior year of high school, with her sister, Arizona, and their BFF, Roxanne, bMontana's been looking forward to this summer--the one just before her senior year of high school, with her sister, Arizona, and their BFF, Roxanne, back home in NYC from college. Things are changing quickly, though: Arizona and Roxanne have obviously been talking a lot without Montana, and Montana has been hanging out with her new friend Karissa. Karissa is 23, cool, fascinating, alluring--and dating Montana's 4-times-divorced dad. Montana and Arizona hate the idea of having Karissa as their next stepmom and try to convince both sides to break it off. Montana's loyalties are split among Arizona, their dad, Karissa, former-stepmom Natasha, and new boyfriend Bernardo, with whom Montana has rapidly fallen head-over-heels in love. Bernardo is everything Montana has ever wanted, and she loses herself into this all-consuming relationship, the one place in her life in which everything goes right.
Teens may be drawn to the melodramatic romance and family struggles, but Montana's eventual epiphany comes too late in the story to pack much punch. The plot covers only a short amount of time (less than a summer) but the pacing is such that it's difficult to nail down just how much time is passing. Some sex and foul language mark this book as being for older teens, but the larger issue is the high percentage of the time Montana and her friends spend drinking, drunk, or hung over....more