Synopsis:
This is the story of
Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride
Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now
prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the
gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to
dance.
When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his
heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds
are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up
without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be
drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with
ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going
away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before
it can really fit together right.
This is a happy-meaningful
romantic comedy about finding love, losing love, and doing what it takes
to get love back in a crazy-wonderful world.
(Synopsis from Goodreads).
My Thoughts:Usually I love books with LGBTQ+ themes. The genre is one of my favorite
things to read. I had heard a lot of hype surrounding Boy Meets Boy, so
I decided to give it a chance. It was my first David Levithan book.
Unfortunately, I did not like it at all. I ended up DNF'ing the ebook at
about 15%. I also tried the audiobook, and made it one third of the way
through before DNF'ING it.
There were so many reasons why I
didn't like this book. First and foremost, all of the teenage drama was
incredibly annoying. The main character drove me crazy with his
insecurities. The one third of the book that I did read was mostly him
gossiping about his friends to his other friends, and playing the "Does
he like me, does he not like me, I'm not going to ask him, I'm just
going to freak out about it" game. It got old real quick.
The
last thing that really bugged me was that the book just wasn't
realistic. It was almost like David Levithan had never been to a high
school before. Maybe it's because I'm from the Midwest, but we
definitely did not have cliques of drag queens walking around together
when I was in high school. You were lucky if you knew one drag queen in
school, but most of our schools didn't have them. We also didn't have a
lot of openly LGBTQ+ kids that people treated respectfully, or everyone
was nice too. Most of them were bullied and ridiculed instead of
praised. Maybe that's changed in the almost ten years since I've
graduated, but from having friends that have kids in school, I know it
hasn't. I wish high schools were more open to the LGBTQ+ community, but
around where I live they're not. Maybe that's different in other parts
of the country. All of that kept taking me out of the story, and ruining
my immersion. Seeing the main character face adversity, and not let it
get to him would have helped with that.
I did not like Boy Meets
Boy at all. I typically love LGBTQ+ books, but this one just wasn't for
me. I will try reading more of David Levithan's books in the future
because I do own most of them. It might be a little while before I try
another one though. I'm a little intimidated because I didn't like this
one, and it was my first book of his. I hope it's just a fluke, and that
I love his other books.
I give Boy Meets Boy: 1/5.
Want to know more about the author?
Website: http://www.davidlevithan.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/David-Levithan-139042149485971/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11664.David_Levithan
I received this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
Synopsis:
An all-consuming love affair.
A family torn apart by scandal.
A young author on the brink of greatness.
Hideous
Love is the fascinating story of Gothic novelist Mary Shelley, who as a
teen girl fled her restrictive home only to find herself in the shadow
of a brilliant but moody boyfriend, famed poet Percy Shelley. It is the
story of the mastermind behind one of the most iconic figures in all of
literature: a monster constructed out of dead bodies and brought to life
by the tragic Dr. Frankenstein.
Mary wrote Frankenstein at the
age of nineteen, but inspiration for the monster came from her life-the
atmospheric European settings she visited, the dramas swirling around
her, and the stimulating philosophical discussions with the greatest
minds of the period, like her close friend, Lord Byron.
This
luminous verse novel from award-winning author Stephanie Hemphill
reveals how Mary Shelley became one of the most celebrated authors in
history.
(Synopsis from Goodreads).
My Thoughts:
For those that have been following my blog for a while, you'll know that
my major goal this year was to get my TBR all caught up. As we near the
end of the year, that looks like it's a goal that I'm going to be
taking into 2019 with me. Anyways, I recently decided to read Hideous
Love because it had been on my TBR for a couple of years. Unfortunately,
it was just okay.
Hideous Love had some interesting parts, and
some boring parts. Unfortunately, the boring outweighed the interesting.
I didn't know anything about Mary Shelley's life prior to reading this
book, other than she wrote Frankenstein. I'm not sure how historically
accurate Hideous Love was, but I found it very interesting that she fell
in love at such a young age, and experienced so much in life before she
even hit her mid twenties. She was a very strong, admirable woman. She
survived more hardships in her twenties than most people do in a
lifetime, and never let it get the best of her.
Other than
learning little tidbits about Mary Shelley's life, the rest of the book
was entirely boring, and slow. There was a lot of gossip about side
characters and putting them down, which I didn't care for at all. I
could have cared less about the rumors about who was sleeping with whom.
When those parts happened, I found myself skimming through them, or
rolling my eyes. I just wanted to get back to the interesting facts
about Mary Shelley. I also didn't like the way her husband treated her
at all. I thought it was a selfish, pompous asshole that put his needs
above hers, especially when she really needed him. In fact, I think Mary
might be the only character in this book that I actually liked.
All
in all, Hideous Love was just okay. I'm glad that I read it because it
puts Frankenstein in a whole new perspective for me. However, it's
definitely not something that I would pick up again to re-read. I think
if someone wants to learn more about Mary Shelley, I would encourage
them to pick up a biography of her instead. I know I'll definitely be
reading one when I come across it in a book store or library.
I give Hideous Love: 3/5.
Want to know more about the author?
Website: https://www.harpercollins.com/author/cr-104712/stephanie-hemphill/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StephanieHemphill.author/
I received this book from the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
Synopsis:
In the next 72 hours,
Kenna may lose everything—her friends, her freedom, and maybe even
herself. One kiss of the blade was all it took to get her sent to the
psych ward for 72 hours. There she will face her addiction to cutting,
though the outcome is far from certain.
When fifteen-year-old
Kenna is found cutting herself in the school bathroom, she is sent to a
facility for a mandatory psychiatric watch. There Kenna meets other kids
like her—her roommate, Donya, who's there for her fifth time; the
birdlike Skylar; and Jag, a boy cute enough to make her forget her
problems . . . for a moment.
Madeleine Kuderick's gripping debut
is a darkly beautiful and lyrical novel in verse, perfect for fans of
Sonya Sones and Laurie Halse Anderson. Kiss of Broken Glass pulses with emotion and lingers long after the last page.
(Synopsis from Goodreads).
My Thoughts:
One of my main goals in 2018 is to lower my tbr to a more reasonable
number (I know, let's all look at that goal and laugh. It will probably
never happen). Audiobooks have been helping me do that a lot recently. I
discovered that the audiobook of Kiss of Broken Glass was only about 2
hours, so I decided to listen to it in my downtime. I'm glad I did. I
really enjoyed it.
Kiss of Broken Glass is one of those books
that I probably would have passed on reading had I not discovered the
audiobook. Contemporaries are something that I have to be in the right
mood to read, so i read them far and few in between. I'm glad I read
this one though. As someone who used to cut when I was a teenager, I
found Kenna to be a completely relatable character. I identified with
her struggles a lot because I had a lot of the same thoughts and
feelings when I was her age. When she describes some of the things that
she felt while cutting, I felt like she was describing my story.
The
only thing I didn't like about Kiss of Broken Glass was Kenna's friends
on the outside. I thought they were incredibly toxic people. I'd like
to think that after what happens at the end of the book, she gets a new
set of friends.
I really loved Kiss of Broken Glass. I'm happy
that I finally decided to give it a read (or in this case a listen)
after all these years. I don't know that I feel comfortable recommending
it to any specific group because it can be potentially triggering for
some people due to self harm. Just know what your triggers are, and if
it turns out to be something that won't trigger you, it's definitely
worth a read.
I give Kiss of Broken Glass: 4/5.
Want to know more about the author?
Website: http://www.madeleinekuderick.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madeleine.kuderick
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kuderickwrites
Tumblr: http://kuderickwrites.tumblr.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7536051.Madeleine_Kuderick
I received this book from the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
Synopsis:
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?
(Synopsis from Goodreads).
My Thoughts:
I love Rainbow Rowell's books. I've read most of them, and have liked every single one I read. I read Fangirl a few years ago when it first came out, and recently decided to re-read it because it had been a while. I loved it just as much during my second read through.
Usually in my reviews I like to list the positives and negatives, but there wasn't a single thing I disliked about this book. Cath was a great main character. I loved how relatable she was. I could definitely see parts of myself in her, such as the antisocial tendencies being around people, and being a total nerd.
Another thing I loved about Cath was the relationships that she did have with the few people she was close to. The relationship between her and Levi is one of the cutest that I've read in YA fiction. They were absolutely adorable. I also loved seeing the relationship between her, her sisters, and her dad. No matter what was happening they were always there for each other. Even when they were arguing, she dropped everything to be there for them when they needed it.
Fangirl is definitely my favorite Rainbow Rowell book that I've read. Reading the book a second time just made it that much better. I can't wait to read Carry On, the Simon Snow fan fiction that Cath was working on throughout Fangirl. I'm sure I'll love that as well.
I give Fangirl: 5/5.
Want to know more about the author?
Website: http://www.rainbowrowell.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rainbow.rowell.author
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rainbowrowell
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rainbowrowell/
Tumblr: http://rainbowrowell.tumblr.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4208569.Rainbow_Rowell
I received this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.
