Publisher: Balzer + Bray

How To Love by Katie Cotugno | Review

Posted July 12, 2021 in Books, Reviews / 0 Comments

I swear, Katie Cotugno never fails to disappoint me. She takes the realest, rawest emotions from being a teenager and manages to spin them into a story that takes me right back into that state of mind, empathizing with the characters even if I haven’t been in their exact situation before. Such was the case when I read How to Love, which I requested from my library on a whim, and absolutely tore through it, inhaling it in a way I haven’t read a contemporary YA novel in a while. The story follows protagonist Reena, who is a teen mother […]

Mini YA Reviews | Cemetery Boys and Concrete Rose

Posted March 8, 2021 in Books, Reviews / 0 Comments

Cemetery Boys was the most atmospheric contemporary I’ve read in a long time! Following Yadriel, who lives in a graveyard with his family of brujx, it takes place over the course of a few days and includes an accidentally summoned ghost, found families, new friendships, and a lot of self discovery. I really enjoyed reading about the lush and beautiful traditions that the brujxs participated in, and how they were juxtaposed against the horrors that can come along with shepherding souls to the afterlife. I also think the story did a good job exploring how families, while well-intentioned, can harm […]

Mini Reviews: Screen Queens & You Say It First

Posted August 31, 2020 in Books, Reviews / 2 Comments

Is there anything more topical than a book about a group of girls killing it in the tech world? I think not, and I was so excited to get my hands on an ARC of Screen Queens for that exact reason- to see a book that promotes women breaking down barriers and making history in the Silicon Valley. Following Lucy, Maddie and Delia, three very different girls from very different background and with very different skill sets, I felt as though I had traveled to a Silicon Valley summer start up incubator right alongside them! While Screen Queens celebrates the […]

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas | ARC Review

Posted February 4, 2019 in Books, Reviews / 4 Comments

It’s no secret that everyone’s been waiting for On the Come Up since The Hate You Give took the YA world by storm. Angie Thomas’ debut novel was bold, tackling tough topics and unafraid to confront harsh realities concerning race, police violence, class, and interracial relationships. In her sophomore novel On The Come Up, Thomas spins another story about a girl from The Garden, but focuses on Bri, an aspiring rapper, who faces the threat of poverty, drug abuse, grief, and stereotyping on her journey to “make it” in the music industry and provide stability for her family. One of […]

Katie Cotugno Mini Reviews | 99 Days and 9 Days & 9 Nights

Posted August 6, 2018 in Books, Reviews / 6 Comments

So I’m getting more and more into audio books this summer thanks to Scribd, and when I saw 99 Days I thought I’d give it (another) shot. I had originally tried a trail of Scribd like two years ago but quickly quit because they had moved to a points system I disliked, and never got a chance to try more than on chapter of 99 Days. I had remembered the book causing quite a bit of controversy based on the content, so I decided it was exactly the type of drama I needed to accompany me through my boring commute. […]

Mini Reviews: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda & The Book of Broken Hearts

Posted April 23, 2018 in Reviews / 6 Comments

Ugh I can’t believe I waited so long to read this book because it was SO ADORABLE. I mean I actually know WHY I waited so long (I was extremely worried about the astronomical levels of hype this book received) but it was definitely worth the wait. Simon was everything you want in a high school YA: hilariously funny (sometimes at the protagonist’s expense), heartfelt yet cringey family dynamics, social structures that felt realistic, and just the lightest touch of teenage angst. Pair that with Simon’s completely and totally unique narration (I love the way he talks, I don’t even […]

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas | Review

Posted August 7, 2017 in Reviews / 10 Comments

I’ll be totally honest with you. I think I put off reading The Hate U Give for quite a while because I was intimidated by all of the hype. Diversity is such an important and such a needed topic in YA right now, and I wanted to go into The Hate U Give when I 1) Had enough time to devote to reading it in as few sitting as possible and 2) When the hype had died down and I could really focus on it. This course of action proved fruitful because I finished The Hate U Give in less […]

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy | ARC Review

Posted May 31, 2017 in Reviews / 9 Comments

Ramona Blue was the first ARC I picked up at YallWest this year, and also the first one I read. It’s cover, unique title, and the fact that I adored Dumplin’ made me eager to dive into another novel by Julie Murphy. I personally have always been attracted to water more than any other element, so I gravitated toward this book where the protagonist hears the siren song of water in so many ways: in her coastal hometown, in the swimming pool where she works away her stress and fears, and even in the destructive storm and flooding that changed […]

None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio | Review

Posted February 17, 2016 in Reviews / 8 Comments

“The biggest difference between boy and girls is how people treat them” None of the Above is one of those books that I had on my radar constantly in 2015, but never got around to reading for some inexplicable reason. When I saw that my close friend Lauren from Bookmarklit was reading it this month, I figured it was the perfect time to move it to the top of my TBR. I found it to be an incredibly fast and easy read to finish while in my wisdom teeth recovery, which focused on the issue of intersex with what seemed […]

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy | ARC Review

Posted September 9, 2015 in Reviews / 7 Comments

My Review I guess sometimes the perfection we perceive in others is made up of a whole bunch of tiny imperfections, because some days the damn dress just won’t zip. Dumplin’ is a book that completely took me by surprise this summer. I found out it was being signed at ALA and, despite the fact that YA contemporary isn’t always what I reach for first, found myself drawn to it. The simple cover, the tongue in cheek tagline (Go Big or Go Home)…I had a feeling Dumplin’ was going to be a hot mess or utter YA perfection. I need […]