ARC Review: Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshmen by Kristen R. Lee

Title: Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshmen
Author: Kristen R. Lee
Publication Date: February 1, 2022
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 336
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//I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review//

A striking debut novel about racism on elite college campuses. Fans of Dear White People will embrace this activist-centered contemporary novel about a college freshman grappling with the challenges of attending an elite university with a disturbing racist history--that may not be as distant as it seems.

Savannah Howard sacrificed her high school social life to make sure she got into a top college. Her sites were set on an HBCU, but when she is accepted to the ivy-covered walls of Wooddale University on a full ride, how can she say no?

Wooddale is far from the perfectly manicured community it sells on its brochures, though. Savannah has barely unpacked before she comes face-to-face with microagressions stemming from racism and elitism. Then, Clive Wilmington's statue is vandalized with blackface. The prime suspect? Lucas Cunningham, Wooddale's most popular student and son to a local prominent family. Soon, Savannah is unearthing the hidden secrets of Wooddale's racist history. But what's the price for standing up for what is right? And will telling the truth about Wooddale's past cost Savannah her own future?

A stunning, challenging, and timely debut about racism and privilege on college campuses.

I recently read Required Reading for the Disenfranchised Freshman by Kristin Lee. This book was PHENOMENAL. I can’t believe it’s Lee’s debut novel! I’m not even sure I can put all of my thoughts and feelings into words, but I’ll try.

Savannah Howard sacrificed the fun high school experience her peers took advantage of to study. Her mom pushed her to make sure she’d get out of their neighborhood, go to an Ivy League Institution, and make a better life for both herself and her mom. Savannah wanted to go to a HBCU in lieu of Wooddale University, where she received a full scholastic scholarship, but it was her mom’s dream for her to go to Wooddale and she didn’t want to disappoint her. On campus, Savannah was one of the only black people around. There were less than 100 black students. When she witnessed racism in the form of a disgusting caricature spray painted on the statue of Clive Washington, she quickly finds herself where she never thought she’d be: an activist fighting for what’s right.

People think that just because black people use AAVE, or Ebonics as ignorant, backwards, and racist people prefer, we’re unintelligent. Savannah is a straight A student who got a scholarship to a prestigious college. Told in first person, we experience Savannah’s code switch. In her head, she speaks the way she speaks around her black friends and family but when speaking to the white and entitled students she goes to school with and that she encounters in real life, she speaks in the only grammar they can comprehend - “proper” American English.

This book was so real that I honestly forgot I was even reading a book. It felt like I personally was experiencing the micro aggressions, the racism, and the hatred that Savannah and her friends received from a popular fraternity, and soon the whole school.

This was an emotional book and that’s putting it lightly. It is very exhausting to be black and to constantly deal with the ingrained racism that people display towards us. The worst ones are those who don’t even know they’re being racist and hateful. It’s so ingrained in them that it’s normal.

Lee also makes a statement about white performative activists that I think was extremely important. They’re okay cheering us on from the sidelines hiding behind they’re friends, and they’re okay supporting us in private, but that’s it. Going the distance.

“White folks don't ever get that we are the ones at risk. We got the most to lose.”

I’ve already pre-ordered this book and I’m so excited for a physical copy. This book was absolutely everything I didn’t know I needed and it’s a REALLY important book for teenagers, especially black teenagers, to read. I have a feeling that this book will be considered a classic in the future.

ARC Review: How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days by K.M. Jackson

Title: How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days
Author: K.M. Jackson
Publication Date: November 2, 2021
Publisher: Forever
Pages: 336
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//I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review//

Bethany Lu Carlisle is devastated when the tabloids report actor Keanu Reeves is about to tie the knot. What?! How could the world's perfect boyfriend and forever bachelor, Keanu not realize that making a move like this could potentially be devastating to the equilibrium of...well...everything! Not to mention, he's never come face to face with the person who could potentially be his true soulmate—her.

Desperate to convince Keanu to call off the wedding, Lu and her ride-or-die BFF Truman Erikson take a wild road trip to search for the elusive Keanu so that Lu can fulfill her dream of meeting her forever crush and confess her undying love. From New York to Los Angeles, Lu and True get into all sorts of sticky situations. Will Lu be able to find Keanu and convince him she's the one for him? Or maybe she'll discover true love has been by her side all along...

I just finished How to Marry Keanu Reeves by K. M. Jackson. I was struggling between whether to give this book 3.5 or 4 stars but in the end I decided on four stars.

This book is about a black woman named Bethany Lu Carlisle who sees a tweet that Keanu Reeves is getting married in 90 days and this devastated her. She literally created a 5 step plan to find Keanu, talk him out of his impending marriage, and tell him he should marry her. So, Lu and her best friend of 20 years, True, went on a road trip and different adventures where they tried to catch Keanu before he disappeared.

When I first read the description, I figured Lu was in her 20s because that’s just an extremely immature reaction to a stranger getting married, even if that stranger is the beautiful, talented, and philanthropic Mr. Reeves. I was flabbergasted to find out she was in her 40s and it really cast her in a negative light for me. She was so obsessed that she was focused on her phone waiting for new tweets while she was in an extremely important business meeting. She was just extremely immature and emotionally stunted due to a past trauma she never dealt with.

The saving grace of this book for me was Truman Erickson. True was funny, sweet, honest, unafraid of his emotions, and emotionally mature. I anticipated chapters from his POV and scenes containing his character. He was also a very selfless and brave person. He was written as THE perfect book boyfriend.

My only complaints about this book, aside from my initial dislike of Lu, was that I personally believed there weren’t enough chapters from the POV of True. Instead of the chapters alternating like most books do, there could be 5 chapters of Lu and then 1 chapter of True and then back to Lu. My second complaint is that the author used the incorrect phrase “I could care less” when “I couldn’t care less” should have been used (that’s a common mistake that always grinds my nerves).

This book will be published on November 2, 2021 and I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone who loves romantic comedies! I’ve already pre-ordered my copy and I’m excited to read the final draft. 

Book Review: The Young Widower's Handbook by Tom McAllister

Title: The Young Widower's Handbook
Author: Tom McAllister
Publication Date: February 7, 2017
Publisher: Algonquin Books

Pages: 288
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For Hunter Cady, meeting Kait was the greatest thing that ever happened to him. Otherwise unmotivated, he spent roughly half his twenty-nine years accomplishing very little, which makes him about fifteen in terms of real-life experience. But he’s the luckiest man on earth when it comes to his wife. Beautiful and confident, Kait is somehow charmed by Hunter’s awkwardness and droll humor. So when she dies quite suddenly, Hunter is crushed. Numb with grief, he stumbles forward the only way he knows how: by running away. To the dismay of her family, Hunter takes Kait’s ashes with him and heads west.

They had always meant to travel. Soon enough, he finds himself--and Kait--in encounters with characters even quirkier than he is: an overzealous Renaissance Faire worker; a raucous yet sympathetic troop  of bachelorettes; a Chicago couple and their pet parrot, Elvis. He meets a much older man still searching for the wife who walked out on him years ago. Along the way are glimpses of Hunter and Kait’s beautiful, flawed, very real marriage and the strength it gives Hunter, even when contemplating a future without it. Insightful, wry, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, The Young Widower’s Handbook is a testament to the power of love.

I randomly picked up this book in an indie bookstore because of both the title of the book and the cover. Unsurprising to those who have been reading my reviews, I had no idea what this book was about before I started reading it, but I quickly figured it out at the end of chapter one. This review will contain minor spoilers.

Hunter and Kaitlyn Cady were together for four short years before she unexpectedly died. Reminiscent of Kerouac’s On the Road, in his grief, Hunter took the life insurance money and Kait’s ashes and decided to travel around the country to fulfill Kait’s lifelong wish to travel. With no plan in mind, Hunter went wherever his travels took him. From a very intense Renaissance Fair to a bar where he inadvertently crashed a bachelorette party, to California, Hunter had some very interesting experiences.

Throughout the book, Hunter looks back on his marriage with Kait and we read about the good times they had and the bad times. Personally, I think they had a terrible marriage. I don’t know if McAllister intended for their marriage to be so flawed, but it didn’t seem like Kait really liked Hunter. That’s not to say she didn’t love him, there were just instances where I wondered how they were even together. For example, Kait’s family loves football, but Hunter is indifferent to it. One Sunday, Kait and Hunter hosted a Sunday football watch party at their house. Kait let her brothers kick Hunter out of his own living room because of their superstition. When Hunter and Kait were in bed later that night, he expressed that he hoped they never had to do that again and Kait said that she wished that sometimes Hunter could be more of a man. She also allowed her male family members to make derogatory gay jokes toward Hunter, both in her family home and in their home. She also complained about his negative nature. Also, their entire relationship started out based on a lie. The only reason Kait was initially interested in Hunter was because he led her to believe he’d traveled the world when in reality, he’d gotten all of his information from reading reference books and comments on message boards.

Regardless of my opinions on their marriage, this book was a 4 star read for me. My husband and I have been together since we were teenagers and we got married really young, at 18 and 19. We’ve currently been together for 8 years and married for almost 7 years. My biggest fears are my husband dying and leaving me alone and me dying and leaving him alone, especially at young ages. I couldn’t help but picture us in Hunter and Kait’s shoes throughout the book. I even started shopping around for additional life insurance policies for us. Hunter’s grief was insurmountable and the fact that Kait’s family and his parents were terrible and mostly unhelpful made his grief worse and harder to bear with. This book evoked such strong emotions from me. If my Prozac didn’t suppress my ability to cry, I know I would have soaked the pages with my tears.

The reason this was a 4 star read for me and not a 5 star is because I didn’t feel like Hunter truly resolved anything. I was hoping after he completed his road trip and after he spread Kait’s ashes he would begin to heal and we would see more positivity from him, but there was no character growth in him. He ended as negative as he began. Also, as mentioned previously, there was a lot I didn’t enjoy about Hunter and Kait’s relationship. I was also disturbed at how attached to Kait’s ashes Hunter was. I don’t know if it’s normal to take your spouse’s ashes across the country and dine with them and drink with them, but I’m assuming it’s not. Overall, I do recommend this book. I really did enjoy it. It was my first McAllister book and it may not be my last. 

Book Review: Recipe For Persuasion by Sonali Dev

Title: Recipe For Persuasion
Author: Sonali Dev
Publication Date: May 26, 2020
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Pages: 464
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Chef Ashna Raje desperately needs a new strategy. How else can she save her beloved restaurant and prove to her estranged, overachieving mother that she isn’t a complete screw up? When she’s asked to join the cast of Cooking with the Stars, the latest hit reality show teaming chefs with celebrities, it seems like just the leap of faith she needs to put her restaurant back on the map. She’s a chef, what’s the worst that could happen? 

Rico Silva, that’s what.  

Being paired with a celebrity who was her first love, the man who ghosted her at the worst possible time in her life, only proves what Ashna has always believed: leaps of faith are a recipe for disaster. 

FIFA winning soccer star Rico Silva isn't too happy to be paired up with Ashna either. Losing Ashna years ago almost destroyed him. The only silver lining to this bizarre situation is that he can finally prove to Ashna that he's definitely over her. 

But when their catastrophic first meeting goes viral, social media becomes obsessed with their chemistry. The competition on the show is fierce…and so is the simmering desire between Ashna and Rico.  Every minute they spend together rekindles feelings that pull them toward their disastrous past. Will letting go again be another recipe for heartbreak—or a recipe for persuasion…? 

In Recipe for Persuasion, Sonali Dev once again takes readers on an unforgettable adventure in this fresh, fun, and enchanting romantic comedy.

I just finished Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev and I LOVED it! Part of Dev’s Raje series from her twist on Jane Austen novels, this book takes us through Ashna Raje’s life. I don’t like to have spoilers in my reviews so I won’t add any. However, I will say that the description of this book on Goodreads is misleading. This was not the lighthearted, romantic comedy I was expecting. This book explored some very hard and serious themes and that made me like it all the better.

Personally, I hated Ashna. She was childish, impulsive, and had A LOT of issues. She also lacked basic communication skills. I found myself wanting to rip my hair out sometimes because of her behavior. And yet, this was still a five star read for me. The story of Ashna’s mother, Shobi, was the star of this book for me. Shobi was a strong, powerful, and amazing woman and her story was impactful. Being an American woman, it can be hard to sometimes remember that women in other countries have it much harder than the women in my country ever will. I’ve found myself going down the rabbit hole on Google doing research on India and how women are treated there and if it hadn’t been for this book, I may not have ever researched it. In both Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors and Recipe for Persuasion, Dev intertwined important current events into her story, such as American healthcare issues and American immigration. Combined with Shobi’s entertaining and strong feminist backstory, I couldn’t put Recipe for Persuasion down.

I’ve never read Persuasion by Jane Austen so I can’t compare Dev’s twist to the original story. In July 2021, Incense and Sensibility, based off of Sense and Sensibility, will be released and it’s about Yash Raje and his run for governor in California. I just received Incense and Sensibility through NetGalley. If Yash’s story goes the way I think it will, I can’t wait to read it and write my review for it!

Book Review: Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Title: Hate List
Author: Jennifer Brown
Publication Date: September 1, 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 405
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Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I don’t read about books before I buy them. If the title and/or cover looks good, or if I see it around Bookstagram, I buy it. Around Christmas 2019, I was going to bookstores a lot because I knew I’d miss going to them once I moved to Guam, and boy was I right. I picked up Hate List by Jennifer Brown during this time and I finally read it.

Hate List is about Valerie Leftman, who’s boyfriend Nick Levil committed a school shooting in their cafeteria during their junior year of high school. In trying to stop him, Valerie was shot in the leg but because of the Hate List that she and Nick created, the one that determined who he wanted to kill, she was implicated in the shooting and treated as a suspect. Even though she was eventually cleared by the police, Valerie still had to deal with the aftermath of the shooting.

Senior year is supposed to be one of the best years of your high school career, but for Valerie, it required her to face her guilt over the list, the shooting, and Nick. Nick took the coward’s way out - he killed himself so that he wouldn’t have to face the repercussions of his actions. Instead, he left that for Valerie to do.

This is the first book I’ve ever read that had the plot of a school shooting. When I started the book, I thought it would be about what happened and what led up to it. Instead, it was about Valerie and her life before and after the shooting. It’s about her relationships with her family, community, friends, and classmates. It’s about the aftermath of trauma and how different people handle it various ways. This was a very humanizing book. There were times when Val’s character made me want to rip my hair out and burn the book and I’ve seen reviews where people gave the book a negative rating because of how much they hated her. But what I think these people failed to realize is that Valerie was written as a teenager; a 17/18-year-old young woman who went through something extremely traumatic and damaging. Of course her character was going to seem whiny, immature, annoying, self-centered, etc. She is a young woman trying to put her life back together and move on while everyone around her tries to keep her down with who and what they perceive her to be.

At the end of my copy of Hate List was a novella called Say Something. It was about David, a friend of Nick’s who suspected that Nick was planning something bad, but he didn’t have the courage to say anything. And even when Valerie spent their senior year being hated and even threatened for what people thought she was part of, David still didn’t say anything. The novella also talked about bullying practices that were still going on one year later; showing that even after enduring something traumatic, some people never change.

In school, I never experienced bullying nor did I ever witness it, so I can only empathize with what Valerie, Nick, and every other “outcast” in the book went through when they were bullied. It’s emotionally jarring to read about bullying and the impacts it can have on people. I, personally, would love to see Hate List and Say Anything on required reading lists for middle schools. I think it’s a very important book that could help bullies realize that what they are doing to others is hurtful and it can have a dire effect on everyone around them.

Book Review: In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Title: In Five Years
Author: Rebecca Serle
Publication Date: March 10, 2020
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 255
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Where do you see yourself in five years?

When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan.

But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future.

After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.

That is, until four-and-a-half years later, when by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.

Brimming with joy and heartbreak, In Five Years is an unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.

In Five Years is another case of “bookstagram made me buy it”. After seeing this book flood instagram this past year, I just knew it had to be one of my last books of 2020. I don’t read book reviews and I also try not to read book summaries. I don’t like to have preconceptions about the book I’m about to dive into, so I went into this book blind.

Dannie is a woman who lives her life by the numbers. You date someone for 24 months before moving in with them. You get engaged at 28. You get married by 30. She is a meticulous, Type-A person who knows what she wants in her life. After acing the job interview at the law firm of her dreams and accepting the marriage proposal from her boyfriend, she goes to sleep knowing she is right on track.

When Dannie wakes up from her sleep, she is somehow exactly five years in the future. She’s in a beautiful apartment with a man she’s never seen before and she gets the briefest glimpse of what her life will be in the future. When she wakes up again, she’s back in her apartment with her fiance and she spends the next few years trying to ignore the hour she spent in 2025, until she meets the man from her vision four-and-a-half years later and he’s dating her best friend, Bella.

It takes a lot for a book to surprise me. I’ve read so many books and watched so much television that I can usually predict how something will turn out at the end, but I still enjoy the journey of getting there. That’s what I thought I had with this book; I thought I had it figured out by the middle of the book, but I’m happy to admit I was wrong.

This isn’t the romance novel I thought it would be. I was expecting love triangles and betrayal and heartbreak but we didn’t really get that, not completely. To me, it’s overall a book about love and self discovery. It’s about the love between two childhood and lifelong best friends. It’s about Dannie’s journey of self discovery. It’s about the little choices we make every single day that make up our life’s story. It’s about the impact that we and our love have on those around us. For me, my favorite part of this book was Dannie and Bella’s friendship. I’m 26-years-old and I still have childhood friends in my life so their friendship and the love they have for each other really hit home for me.

I know that a lot of people don’t believe in soul mates, but I do. And I don’t think they’re necessarily always romantic. To me, Dannie and Bella are soul mates. They have a bond that goes deeper than simply love, friendship, or even sisterhood. They have a soul tie that can never be broken.

It is a heartbreakingly, moving, beautiful tearjerker. It is also a quick read that can be finished in a day. Overall, this was a 3.5 star read for me. The first half of the book was better for me than the second half. I found myself getting lost and confused in some parts and having to re-read them. I also found myself reaching a part of the book where I just wanted to hurry up and get it over with which is extremely rare for me.

Would I read this book again? Absolutely not. Would I recommend this book? I would! We all interpret books differently and after reading a few reviews, it is clear that this was one of those hit-or-miss books for people and for me, I would consider it a hit.

Book Review: The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

Title: The Light We Lost
Author: Jill Santopolo 
Publication Date: May 9, 2017
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Pages: 328
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He was the first person to inspire her, to move her, to truly understand her. Was he meant to be the last?

Lucy is faced with a life-altering choice. But before she can make her decision, she must start her story—their story—at the very beginning.

Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives forever. Together, they decide they want their lives to mean something, to matter. When they meet again a year later, it seems fated—perhaps they’ll find life’s meaning in each other. But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York. What follows is a thirteen-year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and, ultimately, of love. Was it fate that brought them together? Is it choice that has kept them away? Their journey takes Lucy and Gabe continents apart, but never out of each other’s hearts.

The Light We Lost is the second book I’ve read this year that incorporated the events of 9/11 into the plot; and coincidentally, they’re both romance novels. I probably won’t write a review on it, but The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves was a five star read for me this year that I highly recommend!

The Light We Lost is a book about fate, love, and life. I purchased this ebook on sale thanks to BookBub and as soon as I started it, I was hooked. Lucy and Gabe met on 9/11 at Columbia University. On the roof of Columbia University, watching the smoke rise and the destruction that happened on that tragic day, they both made a promise to make their lives mean something; to make sure that what they do helps other people.

“There are moments that shift the trajectory of people’s lives.” We are taken on a journey of Lucy and Gabe’s fated lives through the first person POV. It reads as one big love note from Lucy to Gabe. I will be honest: this isn’t your typical romantic story and there are moments and themes in this book that will make you want to rip your hair out and throw the book across the room, but that’s what I loved about it. It’s easy to go pick up your typical romance novel that has predictable twists and turns and a predictable ending. Those are the easy stories to read because they’re what people want out of life. This is one of the hard ones because it’s full of jealousy, hatred, betrayal, and constant bad decisions, but that’s real life. It’s messy and it’s complicated and we make mistakes that can never be fixed and we find a way to move on.

They say you never forget your first love and that is evidenced in Santopolo’s alluring and affecting book. This was an absolute five star read for me. If I had a machine that allowed me to unread a book just to experience it for the first time all over again, this is one of the books I would choose to unread. Lucy and Gabe, along with the other people in their lives, are anguish personified and I highly recommend this book. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll internally scream, but if you’re like me, you’ll also smile.

Book Review: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Title: Clap When You Land 
Author: Elizabeth Acevedo
Publication Date: May 5, 2020
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Pages: 432
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In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.

Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…

In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.

Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.

And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other. 

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo is a powerful story about grief, love, and family. A few months ago, I came across the book With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo and I fell in love. The stories she paints are heartbreakingly beautiful. In 2020, it can sometimes seem like all of the stories worth writing have been written but each book I read by her feels like a breath of fresh air.

On November 12, 2001, Flight 587 was making a regular light from JFK airport to the Dominican Republic. Shortly after takeoff, the plane tragically crashed in Queens, New York City. There were 265 casualties of Flight 587 - 260 passengers and crew and 5 people on the ground. This crash was a shock to the U.S., especially coming so soon after 9/11, but it was a devastation to both the New York and the Domincan Republic communities; an estimated 90% of the people on board were of Domincan descent.

When the story opens, we read about Camino Rios anticipating her father’s yearly visit to the Dominican Republic. For sixteen years, he has flown from New York to the Dominican Republic to spend the summer, and her birthday, with her. This year though, something was different. She arrived at the airport only to see passengers’ loved ones crying instead of smiling in anticipation and joy. Meanwhile, back in New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office where she finds out that her father died in a plane crash on his way to the Dominican Republic to visit the sister she didn’t know she had.

Acevedo’s writing was poetic and poignant as always. The way she navigated the love story between these two sisters was beautiful and lyrical. Every family has its secrets and when they come out, they can either rip you apart or they can sew you closer together. As Acevedo’s free verse words flow, we are painted a picture of these sisters being stitched together by the love their father had for them. We see two halves of one family grieving together and discovering how to navigate in a world without their sun; without the light that helped them make it through the day.

As always, Acevedo’s characters came to life for me. I could close my eyes and swear that Camino and Yahaira were sitting right beside me. It was as if I could reach out and touch their heartbreak with my own two hands. This book made me laugh and it made me cry. If I had to choose something I disliked about, it would be that it wasn’t longer. I felt myself still craving more of Camino and Yahaira’s story as it came to an end. However, that’s not a surprise as Acevedo always leaves me wanting more. 

Audiobook Review: Sadie by Courtney Summers

Title: Sadie
Author: Courtney Summers
Publication Date: September 4, 2018
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Pages: 308
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A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial―like podcast following the clues she's left behind. And an ending you won't be able to stop talking about.

Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.

When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.

Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep you riveted until the last page.

If you know me then you know I love podcasts. In fact, sometimes it's hard to break away from my favorite podcasts long enough to listen to whatever audiobook I have checked out of the library! So when I heard that Sadie was partially in the form of a true crime podcast investigating a missing person, I knew I had to pick it up!

Sadie does indeed follow a podcast host, West McCray, but that was a smaller part of the book than I'd hoped. The majority of this book follows Sadie on her journey to find the man who she thinks is responsible for her sister's death. I did find Sadie to be a great character and admired her dedication to bringing her sister's murderer to justice. Her story was heartbreaking and hard to read at times, and I was constantly rooting for her to get what she wanted, although her methods were questionable.

Unfortunately, this part of the book really wasn't for me simply because I don't enjoy contemporary fiction. So much of the story was about Sadie going from place to place, meeting different people, and getting to her goal that very little time was about the mystery. It took awhile to get going and there was definitely a lot of repetition in her travels. I definitely hoped for more of the true crime feel and the podcast and investigative journalism portions of the book were the standout.

Sadie should definitely come with trigger warnings for pretty much everything you can imagine - this is a book some readers will need to approach with caution. Overall, I did enjoy Sadie and most of my issues with it were simply because I'm not much of a contemporary reader and expected more mystery. Still, it's worth picking up if you enjoy podcasts and can handle the gritty nature of this story.

Book Review: Needing to Love You by Erin Rylie

Title: Needing to Love You (Houston's Finest #2)
Author: Erin Rylie
Publication Date: April 12, 2019
Publisher: Independently Published
Pages: 273
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Carlos Ramirez has always prided himself on two things: being damn good at his job on the Houston police force and being able to land any woman he wants. When a devastating car accident leaves him crippled and in excruciating pain, he begins to rely too heavily on his prescription painkillers. The only person who can help him heal is the only woman who has ever rejected him—and on more than one occasion. Living with Kelsey while he works through physical therapy wasn’t anything he ever expected to happen, but it might just be what he needs.

After a divorce that left her doubting her ability to love, Kelsey Byrne wants nothing to do with relationships. Unfortunately for her, the only man she could see herself loving needs a place to live and help while he recovers. She had a hard time pushing him away after a one-night stand, so how can she possibly keep him at arm’s length when he’s in her house every day, playing with her son, cooking her meals, and leaving her cute notes every morning? Carlos may be working his way into her heart one sweet gesture at a time, but can she give him everything knowing that she’s more than a little broken inside?

Needing to Love You is way outside of my comfort zone, but recently I was in the mood for an adult romance and this is the book I reached for! It ended up making for a great, quick read for my flight to Washington DC and back.

Carlos Ramirez is recovering after an accident and subsequent surgery when he finds himself at the mercy of Kelsey who has offered him a place to stay. He moves in with her and quickly finds himself at a pity party and in too deep with his prescription painkillers. As Kelsey tries to understand how to navigate Carlos's issues as well as her own, the two find themselves being drawn together and romance ensues.

I really loved Kelsey and Carlos! It was definitely difficult to watch Carlos struggle with addiction and feelings of not being good enough after his accident. I also hated seeing the two of them push each other away instead of leaning on each other when they both needed it. But the two of them when they were getting along were a fantastic pair! I loved Carlos's snarky attitude, Kelsey's quirk of spouting off random fun facts, and their banter back and forth. Their relationship was sweet and obviously passionate.

My favorite thing about this book is that, while it was a fantastic, spicy romance novel, it had a lot of depth and tackled real life issues. There were painful moments dealing with addiction, depression, and moving on after painful relationships. I felt that Erin Rylie handled these issues really well and I loved that it made the story so much more impactful.

Although this is actually the second book in the Houston's Finest series, it read fine as a standalone and I felt like enough was filled in by the author that skipping the first book was okay. There were certainly times when I would have been more in the loop had I read the first book, though.

Needing to Love You was my first book by this author, but I can definitely see myself picking up others!

DNF Review: After by Anna Todd

Title: After (After #1)
Author: Anna Todd
Publication Date: October 21, 2014
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pages: 582
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Tessa is a good girl with a sweet, reliable boyfriend back home. She’s got direction, ambition, and a mother who’s intent on keeping her that way.

But she’s barely moved into her freshman dorm when she runs into Hardin. With his tousled brown hair, cocky British accent, tattoos, and lip ring, Hardin is cute and different from what she’s used to.

But he’s also rude—to the point of cruelty, even. For all his attitude, Tessa should hate Hardin. And she does—until she finds herself alone with him in his room. Something about his dark mood grabs her, and when they kiss it ignites within her a passion she’s never known before.

He’ll call her beautiful, then insist he isn't the one for her and disappear again and again. Despite the reckless way he treats her, Tessa is compelled to dig deeper and find the real Hardin beneath all his lies. He pushes her away again and again, yet every time she pushes back, he only pulls her in deeper.

Tessa already has the perfect boyfriend. So why is she trying so hard to overcome her own hurt pride and Hardin’s prejudice about nice girls like her?

Unless…could this be love?

I didn't know much about After going in. All I knew was that it had originated on Wattpad and was being turned into a movie, so it fit as the "2019 movie adaptation" category for one of the reading challenges I'm participating in. I went in with no expectations, but I still managed to be extremely disappointed with this book.

Long after I turned the first page of After, I found out that it had started out as Harry Styles fanfiction. Honestly, I didn't really know who Harry Styles was (One Direction was a bit after my time), but I do know that I've never loved a fanfiction turned novel in my life and this is no different. I made it 83% through before I finally gave up.

Tessa and Hardin are the main characters of this romantic story. They start off well enough - Hardin is the Bad Boy and Tessa the Good Girl. They're polar opposites who end up being drawn to each other. Of course, Hardin acts like a complete jerk, but I was fine with that at first. Angst can be fantastic, especially in hate to love romance! Unfortunately, this reads about how you'd expect from an average hate to love fanfic. It's bad. The writing is bad and the story is bad.

He pushes her away again and again, yet every time she pushes back, he only pulls her in deeper.  

If this line doesn't completely sum up the entire book... About half the page count could have been removed from After had the angst been cut to a reasonable level. There is more back and forth than in a Colleen Hoover novel, which is saying something. Not only that, but Hardin's jerk attitude only gets worse. This is absolutely one of the most toxic relationships I've ever read.

After is a book I might (MIGHT) have enjoyed as an angsty teenager, but I absolutely can't as an adult. I have a difficult time understanding how this series has such a huge following. I also have a hard time understanding how this story could possibly drag on for four more books. But I'm having the hardest time understanding how this ever got turned into a movie!

I hated Fifty Shades of Gray, but I'd rather read that fifty times than be subjected to the last 15% of After.

ARC Review: The Haunted by Danielle Vega

Title: The Haunted
Author: Danielle Vega
Publication Date: June 4, 2019
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 304
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From Danielle Vega, YA’s answer to Stephen King, comes a new paranormal novel about dark family secrets, deep-seated vengeance, and the horrifying truth that evil often lurks in the unlikeliest of places.

Hendricks Becker-O’Malley is new in town, and she’s bringing baggage with her. With a dark and wild past, Hendricks doesn’t think the small town her parents moved her to has much to offer her in terms of excitement. She plans on laying low, but when she’s suddenly welcomed into the popular crowd at school, things don’t go as expected.

Hendricks learns from her new friends that the fixer-upper her parents are so excited about is notorious in town. Local legend says it’s haunted. Hendricks doesn’t believe it. Until she’s forced to. Blood-curdling screams erupt from the basement, her little brother wakes up covered in scratches, and something, or someone pushes her dad down the stairs. With help from the mysterious boy next door, Hendricks makes it her mission to take down the ghosts . . . if they don’t take her first.

I am a huge fan of The Merciless series! I read them as they were released and really enjoyed every one. I was constantly impressed with Vega's ability to write truly scary horror novels for a YA audience and was excited to pick up The Haunted. I was able to trade for a copy with a friend and was eager to dive into this new, hopefully terrifying story.

This book revolves around Hendricks and her family after a move to a small town where they buy an old house with a bad reputation. The house the family chooses to renovate has a history of murder and suicide and is rumored to be haunted, so of course strange things start happening almost immediately after the family moves in. Unfortunately, that's almost the extent of the horror in this "horror" novel.

While Hendricks is okay as a character, I just got way more information about her than I ever would have needed. I don't need tons of character development, romance, or backstory in my horror novels, but this one was primarily about a girl's experience as a student at a new high school than it was about a haunted house. This book had a love triangle, high school clique drama, a crazy ex boyfriend, and a handful of creepy scenes. As much as I hate YA contemporary romance, that's really what I got with this new Vega book and I am disappointed.

The horror aspects of the book were pretty well done, but they were way too few and far between. I loved The Merciless for genuinely creeping me out, and there were a couple of creepy scenes in The Haunted, but not nearly enough to warrant the title. I did really enjoy the mystery of the house and why it was haunted, though. The ghosts had interesting stories and the resolution was satisfying.

If you're like me, looking for a super scary horror book, this isn't going to be it. If, however, you're new to YA or prefer more tame spookiness in a book that mainly focuses on the YA contemporary romance aspects of the story, you'll probably love this! It was an okay story, but ultimately wasn't what I was hoping for. I recently picked up Survive the Night by the same author and I'm really hoping that's more my speed!

Audiobook Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl 
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publication Date: September 10, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pages: 438
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Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan..

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

I feel like I've said this quite a bit lately, but I rarely read contemporary fiction, especially YA contemporary. I mainly picked this up because A) everyone I've ever met in my life has told me to read it, and B) I knew that fake Harry Potter fanfic was a supposed huge part of it.

The first thing that's worth pointing out is that, while this is labeled as YA, Cath is actually in college. I know that's in the synopsis, but I somehow completely missed it. Even though I'm way past college, I felt like I was able to relate to Cath a lot more than when I read contemporary fiction about high school students. I really liked Cath because she was such an introvert. I've seen people say that they didn't like how she was written because introverts don't completely avoid social situations, but I'm an introvert and that's basically me, so... I liked her.

In addition to Cath, her twin sister Wren, roommate Reagan, and her not-boyfriend Levi. While I did really enjoy them all, I think I loved Levi the best (maybe not surprisingly). I found Reagan to be a bit one dimensional, but I did like that she helped pull Cath out of her comfort zone. The romance was cute and, while there was a tiny hint of a love triangle, I'm happy to say it didn't last very long.

I'm shocked to say that one of my biggest issues with Fangirl was, well, the fangirl herself. I loved Cath, but I was honestly annoyed by the whole fanfiction plot. I went into this book expecting to love Simon Snow and hate the college bits, but it was the exact opposite. There wasn't enough of Simon Snow for me to care about him so he seemed to be wasting pages when he did show up. I was also really confused by the inclusion of Harry Potter in this world. How do these two nearly identical stories exist together?

Something else that surprised me about this book was that there wasn't much of a plot. There was no real issue for Cath to solve other than exist at college for a semester. She went to classes, went to parties, hung out with guys, ate lunch, called her dad... I mean, I've basically done all of this too. I'm used to my books presenting some kind of unusual situation, or at least one I've never found myself in, so it was weird to read a book about a college student meandering through a semester of school.

Fangirl really wasn't what I expected it to be at all and I ended up disliking the part I expected to love, but I still really enjoyed it. I really doubt I'll read any of Rainbow Rowell's other books, though. I still am not a fan of contemporary fiction, but this wasn't a bad one to take a detour with.

DNF Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Title: Forbidden
Author: Tabitha Suzuma
Publication Date: May 27, 2010
Publisher: Definitions
Pages: 418
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She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

Everyone has told me to read Forbidden over the past few years. At least, it seems that way! As a huge fan of Flowers in the Attic, I decided that I could definitely handle the subject matter and that I'd probably love this too. "How bad can it be?" I said. Welp.

Forbidden is the extremely melodramatic story of Lochan and Maya, teenage children of a single mother, and siblings of several other children who they're increasingly responsible for. As they go about their lives taking care of their siblings while their mother lives her life as if she was single, they begin to realize their feelings for each other are more than what's normal between brother and sister. While I got all of that from the synopsis, I was not prepared for this actual book.

My issue with Forbidden is totally "it's not you, it's me." I know that this book is beloved by a huge number of people. I get it! But as someone with a brother who I have a close sibling bond with, I just could not. I love a good romance story as much as the next person. I don't know what exactly was different with this than Flowers in the Attic. Perhaps it's because in that book we see the relationship develop from earlier in their childhood. Maybe it's because they're so completely innocent for so long while the romance starts quickly in Forbidden. I'm not sure, to be honest.

Aside from the cringey relationship between Maya and Lochan, I also had problems with the way the characters were written. I can't stand the back and forth of their romance. The acting on feelings immediately followed by dramatic discussion of how they shouldn't have done it, again and again. It was just a bit too dramatic for my taste. I have read a spoiler for the ending and I have to say I'm not upset that I quit when I did. It seems like the drama continues until the very end.

If you are an only child, maybe you'll enjoy this book more than I did. If you don't mind the kind of drama that makes everything out to be more serious than it is, perhaps this is the book for you. Unfortunately, I just could not make myself keep reading.

Audiobook Review: Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer

Title: Letters to the Lost (Letters to the Lost #1)
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Publication Date: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Pages: 391
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Juliet Young always writes letters to her mother, a world-traveling photojournalist. Even after her mother's death, she leaves letters at her grave. It's the only way Juliet can cope.

Declan Murphy isn't the sort of guy you want to cross. In the midst of his court-ordered community service at the local cemetery, he's trying to escape the demons of his past.

When Declan reads a haunting letter left beside a grave, he can't resist writing back. Soon, he's opening up to a perfect stranger, and their connection is immediate. But neither Declan nor Juliet knows that they're not actually strangers. When life at school interferes with their secret life of letters, sparks will fly as Juliet and Declan discover truths that might tear them apart. 

You may be wondering how I ended up reading a YA contemporary romance novel since we all know this isn't my normal kind of read. Last month I went to my first ever book club meeting. The first month we read a YA fantasy, which is right up my alley. This month the club selected Letters to the Lost and here we are.

Letters to the Lost is about Juliet, a teenager whose mom died tragically in a car accident on her way home from a work trip. Juliet has always blamed herself for begging her mom to return early and continues to cope by writing letters and leaving them at her mom's grave. One day there's a response to one of her letters and, after a brief period of anger over her privacy being intruded upon, Juliet begins to write to the mysterious person known only as The Dark.

Of course, the mysterious other person is the romantic interest, also known as Declan. Declan has his own issues after his sister died and his father went to jail. Basically, they both have stuff to work through. But Declan has a reputation for being a bad guy at school and that's all Juliet can see him as. As they write to each other anonymously, they being to catch feelings, drama ensues, etc.

Juliet was a great character who was super easy to sympathize with! I could totally understand her actions and how she could blame herself. I can't imagine losing my mom, especially if I felt like it could be my fault in some way. I also understood the difficulty Juliet had with taking up hobbies she'd previously enjoyed. I think the author did a great job of painting a picture of a young girl who was grieving.

Declan was also a sympathetic character, but I did have a hard time with his obvious anger issues and the way that no one seemed to go out of their way to help him work through his issues. I hated the way that he treated people and had no desire to be anything other than what everyone expected. I can understand why he had the anger issues that he did, but I have a difficult time with characters who are so aggressive all the time. I was glad that he was eventually able to let down some walls.

The mystery pen pal storyline was definitely intriguing and I think it's why I was able to enjoy this book when I really am not a fan of contemporary romance. I liked the added level of non-angsty drama and how the anonymous connection allowed two people who would never have been friends get to know each other. I didn't care for how it started to drag out a bit near the end, though.

Although the direction the book ended up going was a bit predictable, I did still enjoy it and I kept listening, wanting to know how things would wrap up. Speaking of which, I really did want there to be a bit more resolution to both these characters' stories. The ending was fine, I guess, but after such a long book, I'd hope for a bit more... something. I did see that there's a second book in the series, but I haven't decided whether to pick it up yet.

Overall, I did enjoy this YA contemporary romance that I never, ever would have read without a book club forcing me to do it. I did find it a bit predictable and drawn out, and I never really fell in love with Declan, although it seems like everyone else swoons over him. Still, if I had to read a contemporary romance, I'm glad it was this one!

Book Review Plus a Recipe: Little White Lies & Snickerdoodles

Title: Little White Lies (Debutantes #1) 
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publication Date: November 6, 2018
Publisher: Freeform
Pages: 400
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"I'm not saying this is Sawyer's fault," the prim and proper one said delicately. "But."

Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure contract to participate in debutante season. And she definitely never imagined she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her grandmother's "society" might mean discovering the answer to the biggest mystery of her life-her father's identity-she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn't expect to find is friendship, but as she's drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn't the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are people in her grandmother's glittering world who are not what they appear, and no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted relationships between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer's search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.

Set in the world of debutante balls, grand estates and rolling green hills, Little White Lies combines a charming setting, a classic fish-out-of-water story, and the sort of layered mystery only author Jennifer Lynn Barnes can pull off. 

Little White Lies showed up on my doorstep a few weeks ago and, although I don't read much contemporary fiction, I was instantly intrigued. The blurb caught my attention with its promise of secrets in southern high society. As someone who grew up in small town North Carolina, I was absolutely dying to dig into this book.

Sawyer Taft has always lived in a small town with her mother. They don't have much, but they have each other and that's good enough for them both. When her grandmother shows up out of the blue and offers her a crazy amount of money in exchange for completing a debutante season, she can't say no and finds herself immersed in a world of wealth and scandal. It also gives her the perfect opportunity to figure out who her father is, since her mom has always kept the secret closely guarded. I really liked Sawyer, although I did find her to be a bit "not like other girls," which can get annoying.

The best part about Little White Lies is obviously the mystery and there is a lot of it. The story is told in a combination of present day and flashbacks and the ending brings the two together. There are multiple mysteries in this story, one being who Sawyer's father is and another being how they got into the predicament we see them in at the beginning. But that isn't all - there are even more scandalous high society mysteries uncovered and each one of them was fantastic! I think the author did a great job of setting everything up and weaving it all together.

Like I said, I grew up in small town North Carolina and I could definitely see some of the people and events from my childhood in this book. Although I was far from high society, I went to a private school on a scholarship for several years and I definitely knew girls like the ones in this book! Oh, how I would have loved for some of their scandals to come out like these did! The setting was great, if a bit over the top. Think Gossip Girl in the south.

This is my first book by Jennifer Barnes, but I doubt it will be my last. This book definitely kept my interest and the drama was out of control! There were moments where I felt like I wished things would hurry along just a bit, but that's probably just a case of it's not you, it's me. Like I said, contemporary really isn't my genre. If you enjoy contemporary mysteries without a ton of romance, Little White Lies is one you won't want to miss!

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CAKE MIX SNICKERDOODLES

As you may find out (depending on how these posts go), I love experimenting and making things from scratch. But every now and then it's nice to have something super quick, easy, and delicious up your sleeve. I recently tried these snickerdoodles and they are my new go-to recipe for when I need something sweet in the house but don't feel like spending hours slaving away in the kitchen.

This recipe yields about 34 snickerdoodle cookies at 80 calories each.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box French Vanilla cake mix
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (imitation works fine)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F 
2. Mix together French Vanilla cake mix, butter, egg, vanilla, and 1 teaspoon of the ground cinnamon with a spoon until it forms into a dough.
3. Shape dough into balls (about 1 inch).
4. Mix together remaining 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
5. Roll dough in cinnamon sugar mixture and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. 
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
7. Move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. Eat them all immediately.

Please let me know what you think of this new review plus a recipe feature and PLEASE do come back and comment if you have the chance to try these delicious cookies!

ARC Review: A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

Title: A Very Large Expanse of Sea
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publication Date: October 16, 2018
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 320
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It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.

Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.

But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.

It's no secret around here that I don't usually read contemporary fiction. I'm also not a huge fan of the Shatter Me series, so you might be wondering why I even decided to read A Very Large Expanse of Sea. I heard Tahereh Mafi talk about this book and learned that it was really an autobiographical book and I was instantly interested in knowing more of her story.

The main character of this story is Shirin, a Muslim-American girl living in the aftermath of 9/11. I found Shirin to be a wonderfully written character. She's strong and passionate and I adored her relationships with her brother and friends! I loved her passion for break-dancing, although I found it a bit repetitive. That's probably because I literally don't know how to dance though...

But what about the romance? I loved Ocean! I loved Ocean and Shirin together! What I didn't care for was the never ending angst. It was so hard to watch Ocean try to get close to Shirin, see her want to be close to him, but repeatedly shut him out. It also happens to be a trope that I really can't stand. I can understand her reluctance, but I have a really hard time with the back and forth angsty relationships that often plague YA and NA contemporary romance. When they were together, though, they were magic.

One of the reasons I wanted to read this book is because I have absolutely no idea what it's like to be Muslim in America, especially during such a turbulent time. I found it very easy to sympathize with Shirin and difficult to read about the abuse she received from the Islamophobic people she had to deal with. The constant badgering from those around her, the derogatory comments and questions, were awful. Unfortunately, it caused her to be angry and closed off and often harsh, hence the angst with Ocean.

Something I really liked about this book was that the writing. It was much different from Mafi's previous books and much easier for me to read. In fact, I blew through this book in a couple days. A Very Large Expanse of Sea is an impactful, eye opening book and I think it's going to be an important one. It definitely helped me to understand a bit more and I wish I'd had access to books like this as a teenager growing up in the south where people were not always welcoming.

The end of this book was perfect. I loved Shirin's character growth and the way her relationships with those around her progressed. Overall, I really enjoyed A Very Large Expanse of Sea. It's honest and a fantastic coming of age story! I definitely recommend it to fans of Tahereh Mafi and contemporary fiction.