Also by this author: Open Road Summer, Open Road Summer, The Start of Me and You, The Start of Me and You, The Names They Gave Us
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA on January 7, 2020
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Social Themes, Friendship, Mental Illness, Young Adult, Love & Romance
Pages: 400
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Buy on Amazon
ISBN: 9781681199399
Goodreads
"Gut-bustingly funny and exquisitely tender." - Katie Cotugno, New York Times bestselling author of 99 DaysAcclaimed author Emery Lord crafts a gorgeous story of friendship and identity, daring to ask: What happens after happily ever after?
It's senior year, and Paige Hancock is finally living her best life. She has a fun summer job, great friends, and a super charming boyfriend who totally gets her. But senior year also means big decisions. Weighing "the rest of her life," Paige feels her anxiety begin to pervade every decision she makes. Everything is exactly how she always wanted it to be--how can she leave it all behind next year? In her head, she knows there is so much more to experience after high school. But in her heart, is it so terrible to want everything to stay the same forever?
Emery Lord's award-winning storytelling shines with lovable characters and heartfelt exploration of life's most important questions.
Praise for The Start of Me and YouA Huffington Post Top YA Books of 2015One of PopSugar's Best YA Books of 2015
Praise for When We Collided2017 Schneider Family Book Award WinnerOne of YALSA's 2017 Best Fiction for Young Adult ReadersA YALSA 2017 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult readersA USA Today Must-Read Romance of 2016One of PopSugar's Best YA Books of 2016One of Nerdy Book Club's Best YA Fiction of 2016
The thing about being a book blogger is that so much of my reading time tends to be based around review copies. Sure, there’s plenty to choose from and I can just follow my moods. Sometimes though, I like reading a good risk free, obligation free book. The Map From Here To There by Emery Lord was an obligation free book. I didn’t have an ARC, an eARC or my money invested into it. It was a library pick up.
After reading this book, I know a few things. One, I want to have all of the books Emery Lord has ever written on my bookshelves (which will absolutely happen once I read through and get rid of a whole pile of books and clear some space out). Two, I just relate to her characters. It’s not so much their situation, but more the character at the core. It is the overthinking. There are also the multifaceted pieces of being young – a job, extracurriculars, worrying about paying for college, being nostalgic for a moment you are in right now. I loved this extra look at Paige Hancock and this what comes next for her. This book is so special – like all of Emery Lord’s books – just get your hands on The Map From Here To There and you’ll see what I mean.
I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen YangAlso by this author: American Born Chinese, The Shadow Hero
Published by First Second on March 17, 2020
Genres: Young Adult Nonfiction, Comics & Graphic Novels, Sports & Recreation, Basketball, Boys & Men
Pages: 448
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
ISBN: 9781626720794
Goodreads
In his latest graphic novel, Dragon Hoops, New York Times bestselling author Gene Luen Yang turns the spotlight on his life, his family, and the high school where he teaches.
Gene understands stories—comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins.
But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships.
Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well.
I really love jumping through genres and different types of books. Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang is another young adult book that I’m glad I picked up on a whim. Yes, it was a review copy but not one where I also had a deadline staring me down. Yang’s Dragon Hoops is a graphic novel that details Bishop O’Dowd High School’s journey to the California State basketball championship intertwining with Yang’s process of creating this book.
Dragon Hoops is non fiction about sports from the point of view from a not so athletically inclined person. It goes into detail on the backstory of some of the players, the history of basketball and the team. Ultimately, this book made me want to play basketball as well as watch it. It’s a quick, engaging read full of people I really came to care about. The art is easy to follow – characters are easy to recognize. Pick this book up while you’re in between watching March Madness games.
I received this book for free from Library, Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya MenonAlso by this author: From Twinkle, with Love, There's Something about Sweetie
Series: St. Rosetta's Academy #1
Published by Simon and Schuster on February 18, 2020
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Diversity & Multicultural
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover, eARC
Source: Library, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
ISBN: 9781534417564
Goodreads
From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the first novel in a brand-new series set at an elite boarding school, that’s a contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast.
Will the princess save the beast?
For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?
His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can't shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…
As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.
It is interesting to me, the mixed reviews I have seen for Sandhya Menon’s latest, Of Curses And Kisses. On the one hand, I get why – this book is quite different from her Dimple-Rishi etc books. That’s okay. On the other, I liked that the start of her new St. Rosetta series was such a departure. I am interested to see the direction this series goes in and what other fairy tales will be explored (if that is the intent).
Of Curses And Kisses follows main characters Jaya Rao and Grey Emerson. Jaya is a princess from India. Grey Emerson is an English lord. There’s some animosity between the two families – as a long time ago someone from the Emerson family stole rubies from a Mysuru temple during the time of imperialism. So, someone from the Rao family cursed the Emerson family. Both Jaya and Grey are seniors at St. Rosetta’s – a posh boarding school in the Colorado mountains where children of the wealthy go. At first Jaya plans to make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart — but life has other plans for her.
I think that Of Curses And Kisses did get off to a slow start. However, once I really got into it, somewhere around the 150 page mark, I had a hard time setting it down. At that point I was invested in Jaya and Grey as people. There were some parts I was not overly wild about, and well, let me just say protect Grey at all costs. But overall, this is the kind of book I would have loved as an actual teenager – so I’d certainly recommend. Go in expecting it to be different from Dimple et al, and I hope you end up enjoying the experience as much as I did.
I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Midnight Lie by Marie RutkoskiAlso by this author: The Winner's Curse, The Winner's Crime, The Winner's Kiss
on March 3, 2020
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, LGBT
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9780374306397
Goodreads
Set in the world of the New York Times–bestselling Winner’s Trilogy, Marie Rutkoski's The Midnight Lie is an epic LGBTQ romantic fantasy about learning to free ourselves from the lies others tell us—and the lies we tell ourselves.
Where Nirrim lives, crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules, and society’s pleasures are reserved for the High Kith. Life in the Ward is grim and punishing. People of her low status are forbidden from sampling sweets or wearing colors. You either follow the rules, or pay a tithe and suffer the consequences.
Nirrim keeps her head down, and a dangerous secret close to her chest.
But then she encounters Sid, a rakish traveler from far away, who whispers rumors that the High Kith possess magic. Sid tempts Nirrim to seek that magic for herself. But to do that, Nirrim must surrender her old life. She must place her trust in this sly stranger who asks, above all, not to be trusted.
Marie Rutkoski’s books are such a treat – even when the characters are basically getting tortured. The Midnight Lie is set in the same world as The Winner’s Curse and oh my god I was anxious the whole time I was reading it. You see, I was very invested in Nirrim, the main character who really has had the shaft in life.
The Midnight Lie is set on this island where the populace is divided into three classes: Half Kith, Middlings, and High Kith. The half kith are the lowest of the low and can be forced to give tithes and attacked by the militia for random things. The middlings are the middle class and are a bit better off. Then there’s the high kith – who are rich and live pleasant rewarding, worry free lives for the most part. Nirrim is a half kith orphan who ends up adopted by a middling woman named Raven along with two other young ladies. Through circumstances, Nirrim ends up in jail across from a foreigner named Sid who is rakish and doesn’t really understand why things are the way that they are in Nirrim’s world.
What results is a deeply engaging love story as well as a story of waking up to the lies that make up Nirrim’s society and ultimately, her life. I got really into this book after we meet Sid. There’s a lot to unwrap with Nirrim and some revelations get dropped. The ending was such a shock but I loved it. I am so eager for the next book from Marie Rutkoski and just have to know what happens next.
I received this book for free from Library, Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Infinity Son by Adam SilveraAlso by this author: More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me
Series: Infinity Cycle #1
Published by HarperCollins on January 14, 2020
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Family, Siblings, Social Themes, New Experience
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover, eARC
Source: Library, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
ISBN: 9780062457844
Goodreads
A New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and IndieBound bestseller!
Balancing epic and intensely personal stakes, bestselling author Adam Silvera’s Infinity Son is a gritty, fast-paced adventure about two brothers caught up in a magical war generations in the making.
Growing up in New York, brothers Emil and Brighton always idolized the Spell Walkers—a vigilante group sworn to rid the world of specters. While the Spell Walkers and other celestials are born with powers, specters take them, violently stealing the essence of endangered magical creatures.
Brighton wishes he had a power so he could join the fray. Emil just wants the fighting to stop. The cycle of violence has taken a toll, making it harder for anyone with a power to live peacefully and openly. In this climate of fear, a gang of specters has been growing bolder by the day.
Then, in a brawl after a protest, Emil manifests a power of his own—one that puts him right at the heart of the conflict and sets him up to be the heroic Spell Walker Brighton always wanted to be.
Brotherhood, love, and loyalty will be put to the test, and no one will escape the fight unscathed.
I want to preface my review of Infinity Son by Adam Silvera by pointing out that I am absolutely not the target audience for this book. This is perfectly reasonable and fine. I picked this book up because the previous two books I read by Silvera were books that really hit when I read them. As it turns out, this wasn’t my favorite of his work but I am so glad it exists.
Infinity Son follows brothers Emil and Brighton who are hoping something special will happen on their 18th birthday – something that will turn them into Celestials which are basically superheroes. Brighton is incredibly smart and social media savvy. Emil has a soft heart and honestly can be a bit naive, but I’d ride or die for him before Brighton. Anyways, the two end up caught in a battle between Celestials and Spectors (who get their powers from ingesting alchemical potions).
This book is perfect for gay teens who wish to seem themselves reflected in the hero role. There is a lot of representation in this book and that’s wonderful. For me though, it wasn’t entirely my thing but that’s okay – not every book is meant to. I won’t hesitate to recommend this book. One thing too that’s cool is that it is written in this way that is very accessible and well how I imagine actual teenagers speak (I spend most of my time with a toddler and adults, so I guess I’ll understand this in like ten years). The phoenix mythology is also really an awesome element but I would have liked more exploration of that.
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