Top 10 book of 2017

I managed to read 32 book during 2017, which isn't bad when you take into consideration a new job (that ultimately didn't work out which is why I found a new job that I'll be starting in about 3 weeks), and plowing through classes so that I could finish my grad school degree before 2018. Of those 32 books these are my top 10 favorite (not in any order)!

American Street by Ibi Zoboi

(this is also my favorite book cover!!!)

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

(a non diverse book)

Beast by Brie Spangler

Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

(No idea why I didn't review this. lol)

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

(A non-diverse book, but I loved it)

If I was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

(Loved that this was Own Voices)

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

(I wouldn't necessarily put this in the category of diverse either. But it's a great read... or listen)

Holding up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

(not Own Voices but still good)

May your 2018 be filled with joy and books!

via GIPHY

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I FINISHED GRAD SCHOOL!!!!!

 Blogging world, I went away for a while, and from the title of this post, I'm sure you all know why. I FINALLY FINISHED GRAD SCHOOL AFTER FIVE YEARS.



via GIPHY
Five years of late nights, study sessions, APA cited papers,website, videos, internship hours (even though I work full time in a library, we'll let that go) and so much more. After loans, and cleaning out my bank account for classes when I decided not to take out any more loans, and some tears I have a Masters in Library and Information Science, MLIS. The first person to obtain a graduate degree of any of my immediate family members (my cousin beat me by a semester).

Thank you to everyone who was rooting for me (even though you didn't know you were). I can finally, truly, dedicate my time to the things that make me happy. Playing my ukulele, listening to podcasts, watching Shemar Moore on Criminal Minds, and reading great books!

Happy New Year everyone!  

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Black Girl in a Big Dress

In the past I've only used this blog to post about books, BUT I HAVE TO DO MY PART AND TELL THE WORLD ABOUT THIS NEW WEB SERIES.

The other day I fell down a YouTube hole and tripped over a web show called Black Girl in a Big Dress. The show was created by Aydrea Walden, it's about an African American girl who who loves to cosplay play as if she's in the Victorian times, poofy blue dress and all. When Adrienne, our cosplayer, tries to bring the simplicity and romance of Victorian times into 2017 (at least I assume it's 2017) the chaos beings.

As black women (and all women of color) continue to demand equality in the job market, over our bodies, over our hair for goodness sake, it's important not to forget about the "little" things such as visual representation on book covers, and nerd culture. I know that as a lover of anime (which is hard enough in a family of sports fans) I've been terrified to go to an event in cosplay. It can be hard enough just walking through life as myself (I've had a coworker stick her hands into my natural hair as she pondered how I got it to look that way, not to mention all the comments on how "well spoken" I am... please stop being impressed by that), I don't need to be gawked at and whispered about in costume as well. Shows like this are empowering. They tell black women and girls that it's okay if you don't listen to Solange or watch Django Unchained. Be 100% true to yourself and everything else will fall into place...

Well, I think that's what the show tells us... We're only eight episodes in.

I'M READY!!!

Looking for more information on the show? Get it here!

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Review: The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and imagination.

As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief who could come to mean much more to Nix.

But the end to it all looms closer every day.

Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very existence.

For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.

She could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability, her own epic love.

Or she could disappear. 

LIKED:

• Nix is biracial. That's always going to be a positive on this blog!
• This was an interesting take on a pirate story (although they don't call themselves pirates that's basically what they are).
• Not only can this ship travel through time, it can also travel to places that don't technically exist outside of the mind of the person who dreamed it up and put it in map form. 
• I did the audio book for this one and the voices and accents were on point.
• I like that this book was a mix of fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction with a little bit of physics thrown in for good measure. 
• I like how this book ended. I half wish there wasn't a sequel (and there is) but now that I know it exists, I'm read/ listen to it. 

NOT SO MUCH:

• I will always be annoyed when two friends are in love and fight it for no good reason. That's the type of relationship that most of us would die for. STOP IT. IT'S DUMB AND UNNECESSARY. 
• While I don't hate all love triangles, this one seems... also unnecessary. 

IN CONCLUSION:
Read this book. It's good, it's different, there are pirates, and a dash of LGBTQ. Give it some of your time, and I don't think you'll regret it. 

4 STARS

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Review: Soundless by Richelle Mead

In a village without sound…

For as long as Fei can remember, no one in her village has been able to hear. Rocky terrain and frequent avalanches make it impossible to leave the village, so Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom. 

When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink. Many go hungry. Fei and all the people she loves are plunged into crisis, with nothing to look forward to but darkness and starvation.

One girl hears a call to action…

Until one night, Fei is awoken by a searing noise. Sound becomes her weapon.

She sets out to uncover what’s happened to her and to fight the dangers threatening her village. A handsome miner with a revolutionary spirit accompanies Fei on her quest, bringing with him new risks and the possibility of romance. They embark on a majestic journey from the peak of their jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiguo, where a startling truth will change their lives forever…

And unlocks a power that will save her people.

LIKED:

• I didn't read this book, I listened to it, and the audio book reader was on point. I've always had an issue keeping up with names, particularly when books are set it other countries so I thought the book would be easier to follow if it was read to me, and I was right. 
•  The book had a slow build, and while I get the feeling reading it might have been an issue for me, listening to that slow build was great.
• I must say, I was unprepared for the... fantastical ending. It was nice. 
• With out any spoilers, I enjoyed reading about what was discovered "in the towns". That's all I can say. 

NOT SO MUCH:

• Although I liked the "fantastical" ending, I thought the discovery was a bit rushed. Even though the book was a good size, I would have been fine with an additional two or three chapters for a better and less forced explanation. 

IN CONCLUSION:
This is the type of book I would suggest to someone who is just beginning to discover Fantasy novels. What might feel boring and slightly unfulfilling to some, moves at just the right pace for others. As someone who is a bigger fan of Urban Fantasy than "Hardcore Fantasy", I was a fan of Soundless. 

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Review: Beast by Brie Spangler

Tall, meaty, muscle-bound, and hairier than most throw rugs, Dylan doesn’t look like your average fifteen-year-old, so, naturally, high school has not been kind to him. To make matters worse, on the day his school bans hats (his preferred camouflage), Dylan goes up on his roof only to fall and wake up in the hospital with a broken leg—and a mandate to attend group therapy for self-harmers.

Dylan vows to say nothing and zones out at therapy—until he meets Jamie. She’s funny, smart, and so stunning, even his womanizing best friend, JP, would be jealous. She’s also the first person to ever call Dylan out on his self-pitying and superficiality. As Jamie’s humanity and wisdom begin to rub off on Dylan, they become more than just friends. But there is something Dylan doesn’t know about Jamie, something she shared with the group the day he wasn’t listening. Something that shouldn’t change a thing. She is who she’s always been—an amazing photographer and devoted friend, who also happens to be transgender. But will Dylan see it that way?

I'm a sucker for the concept of "it's what's on the inside that matters, not what's on the outside". This book is a modern day Beauty and the Beast. Dylan is huge and hairy AKA he's the big, hair, scary beast. Jamie is our Belle and she is trans. How freaking great is that!!

LIKED:

• I love that Jamie was transgender. As a non-transgender person I can't speak as to how accurate Jamie was as a character the same way I might be able to with an African American character, but I loved her. She was tough, honest, straight forward, and she wasn't taking any crap from JP or Dylan. 
• I liked the dynamic between JP and Dylan. It would have been easy for Brie Spangler to make Dylan the evil villain of his high school with his large muscle, but that wasn't quite what happened. JP was "that kid". He had money, he was popular, beloved by adults, people fought with each other to enter his orbit. He was also a bully, but instead of harassing kids himself, like any self respecting bully would, he sent Dylan to do it. The crazy thing was, Dylan hated being the enforcer of their duo. Like I said, and interesting dynamic. 
• I like that this book didn't have a neat and tidy ending. As with real life, sometimes you don't know what the next day will bring. You don't know if you'll be able to forgive and forget, you don't know that your friendships will last, but you go to sleep, wake up the next day, and hope for the best.
• Small spoiler..................................There is a moment when Dylan and Jamie end up naked and in bed. Sex can be hard enough as it is, even when you're an adult, but when you're a trans girl and you still have male genitalia I imagine it can be even more difficult. I really appreciate the way Bri Spangler didn't eliminate this slightly uncomfortable moment for Dylan from the book. That's all I say about it. Read it yourself.   

NOT SO MUCH:

• My only issue with the book was with the mom. I didn't like her. She was a worrier as many parents are, but something about her felt fake and over done.

IN CONCLUSION:
Read this book. That's honestly all there is to say. 
 

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Review: Little and Lion

 

When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she isn't sure if she'll ever want to go back. L.A. is where her friends and family are (along with her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother, Lionel, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, needs her emotional support.

But as she settles into her old life, Suzette finds herself falling for someone new...the same girl her brother is in love with. When Lionel's disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help her brother before he hurts himself--or worse.

I've been waiting for this book since the day it was announced on Twitter. I LOVE Brandy Colbert, I LOVED her first book Pointe and this book is just as amazing. Fun fact, when I worked at the West Haven Library in Connecticut years ago, Brandy Colbert did a Skype chat with my book club kids!! She was awesome.

LIKED:

• The blended family. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. I love that Little and Lion called themselves brother and sister even though they didn't refer to each others parents as mom and dad. It gave their sibling bond some extra weight. 
• I (personally) love to read books about black characters, where the fact that they're black doesn't outweigh the rest of the book. Suzette is black, she has dreads, she has a nose piercing, and she has a red headed brother. Race is obviously an important part of who she is, and there are racial issues in this book that are spoken about very candidly (the pool scene, you tell 'em Brandy), but Suzette being a black girl didn't dominate her personality, she liked museums, she was exploring her sexuality, caring for her brother, and accepting the fact that her parents sent her away at a time where she felt she needed to be home the most.
• I think what I loved the most was that Suzette was a pretty emotional girl. When I say that I don't mean there were temper tantrums or buckets of tears, but she was allowed to be emotional and sometimes black girls and women aren't allowed that. There is a stereotype about the strong, black women, and while that it true, black women have had to be strong, capable people, they are also allowed the tear up when they see their home for the first time in five months, they're allowed to feel betrayed then some makes a "black joke" and none of their friends stick up for them, and they're allowed to feel confused by their own body and feelings. The world can send black women subliminal messages that we're not allowed those tears, or those tears aren't expect of us, but we're allowed to be strong, capable, and emotional, just like Suzette.
• Emil. Enough said. 

NOT SO MUCH:

• Yall, I'm going to be dead serious, I can't think of one darn thing about this book that I didn't like. 
• I think I wish the cover was a picture of Little and Lion. I think there's something powerful about having black faces on the cover of books. I also have no idea how to do that and keep it from looking dumb soooo.... there's that.

IN CONCLUSION:
Just read the darn book, just freaking do it please. Thanks.

P.S. Brandy I really think you're amazing and if you ever read this and if you're ever in Connecticut I would love to have you speak to the kids here.

5 STARS

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Let Kids Read What They Want For Goodness Sake

Okay, I'm so fed up I need to rant to the world. If you've read my super awkward About Me post, you'll know that I'm a librarian, I was a weird, sad little kid and now I'm trying to make the world a better place for other weird, sad little kids and misunderstood teenagers.

Every single day, I watch parents try to force "real books" on their kids. It's driving me CRAZY. What in the heck does that even mean. Dear grown ups (because it's not always the parents) let your kids read whatever the heck they want. The other day, there was a little girl, maybe 12, in the library with her grandma. Her grandma was trying to force this girl to read a bunch of books the girl didn't want to read. Grandma's getting snappy, the little girl is beginning to retreat on herself, and somehow I wind up smack dab in the middle of this. Then, the little girl surprises me and begins to pick up books that look interesting to her. They're pink, with the title is sparkly script, and there's typically some precocious blonde on the cover, but who cares, the girl was holding up books she was willing to read. What does grandma do? Can you guess? She stars yelling at the girl, telling her she needs to read "real" books. The crazy thing is, she didn't even mean non-fiction. Did she want the 12 year old to read The Odyssey???? I DON'T KNOW. It drove me so crazy, I sent the girl off to go look in another isle, and took the grandma over to non-fiction, hoping it would make her happy.

THEN, this lady has the nerve ask me if I like reading, and how she can get her granddaughter to read more. I lost my mind. I was the most unprofessional I had ever been. I watched this little girl hold up four age appropriate chapter books that she wanted to read, and her grandma verbally crushed her. I said something along the lines of, "You're not making any sense. That girl picked up four perfectly age appropriate books that she wanted to read and you wouldn't let her. There's no such thing as real books and fake books. Every book in the world has the potential to tech you something, even if it's just how to be a good person. If you continue to dictate what she reads, she'll hate reading forever. Leave her alone, and let her read what she wants." Then I actually walked away.

I have never been so angry in my life. Here's how it typically works world. If a kid only wants to read Magic Tree House, let them. There will come a day when they pick up an I Survived book. They're read all of those a million times. There will come a day when that kid wants to branch out and find something new that's full of adventure and the librarian will give them The False Prince, that kid will become interested in Historical Fiction, and then they'll become interested in History, and then they'll become a teacher and live happily ever after. And it all began with a kid reading The Magic Tree House 9,000 times.

Let kids read what they want for goodness sake. They have so little control over their lives, let them have this one thing.

*End rant*

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Blog Hop: Bloggiesta

Book Blogger Hop

This blog hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer.

Question:
Do you participate in the Bloggiesta?


Answer:
I have no idea what that is, but I'm going to look into it ASAP because it sounds lovely!

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Can't Wait Wednesday- Meet Cute

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read!

I want this so bad! I'm almost afraid to read it. I'm going to get this book, read these meet cutes, and I'll be mad that I don't have the rest of their stories. Ugh.
 ***

Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or love at first sight, every romance has to start somewhere. MEET CUTE is an anthology of original short stories featuring tales of "how they first met" from some of today’s most popular YA authors.

Readers will experience Nina LaCour's beautifully written piece about two Bay Area girls meeting via a cranky customer service Tweet, Sara Shepard's glossy tale about a magazine intern and a young rock star, Nicola Yoon's imaginative take on break-ups and make-ups, Katie Cotugno's story of two teens hiding out from the police at a house party, and Huntley Fitzpatrick's charming love story that begins over iced teas at a diner. There’s futuristic flirting from Kass Morgan and Katharine McGee, a riveting transgender heroine from Meredith Russo, a subway missed connection moment from Jocelyn Davies, and a girl determined to get out of her small town from Ibi Zoboi. Jennifer Armentrout writes a sweet story about finding love from a missing library book, Emery Lord has a heartwarming and funny tale of two girls stuck in an airport, Dhonielle Clayton takes a thoughtful, speculate approach to pre-destined love, and Julie Murphy dreams up a fun twist on reality dating show contestants.

This incredibly talented group of authors brings us a collection of stories that are at turns romantic and witty, epic and everyday, heartbreaking and real.
****
Release date: January 2, 2018
 

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Review: Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes

 

It's city-girl Maddy's first summer in the bayou, and she just falls in love with her new surroundings - the glimmering fireflies, the glorious landscape, and something else, deep within the water, that only she can see. Could it be a mermaid? As her grandmother shares wisdom about sayings and signs, Maddy realizes she may be the only sibling to carry on her family's magical legacy. And when a disastrous oil leak threatens the bayou, she knows she may also be the only one who can help. Does she have what it takes to be a hero? Jewell Parker Rhodes weaves a rich tale celebrating the magic within.

 My online Youth Adult at Heart book club read this book for the month of August and hats off to my friend Crystal for choosing it. This book has family, friends, bravery, magic, imagination, and growth. (All the same things Harry Potter had, how about that).

LIKED:

• There were mermaids. Need I say more. (If you didn't guess that big fin was a mermaid you're ridiculous).
• Maddy and Bear are squad goals. Enough said.
•  The imagery in this book was on point. The author managed to describe Maddy and Bear's adventures, and the Bayou, and what Maddy was feeling BEAUTIFULLY but without talking to much (I'm look at you Stephen King).
• Watching Maddy and the other members of the Bayou bond and become a second type of "family" almost brought tears to my eyes. IT WAS ALL SO LOVELY.
• I don't know much about the Bayou (actually who am I kidding, aside from the fact that they eat a ton of crawdads I don't know a thing about the Bayou) I liked the French words that were peppered throughout the dialogue.
• This book was about belief and imagination, something that slowly begins to dissolve as we're beat up by life. This is a story every adult and child should read.  

NOT SO MUCH:

• Although Maddy's older siblings kind of sucked, I would have been interested to see more of them. They're so different from Maddy (and her mom?) that it would have been an interesting dynamic to watch then interact more.
• So I know what we were suppose to think happen at the end of the book with the... disaster (I'm trying to stay away from spoilers), but it was a tad abrupt for my taste. That being said, I still thought it was great because, MERMAIDS.

IN CONCLUSION:
Did the mom know about the magic? I don't know! Were the mermaids and magic read? I don't know! I don't know, and I don't care, because this book is so sweet and I will suggest it to anyone and everyone I meet. My kingdom for a Novella.

4 STARS

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Blog Hop: Books in Foreign Languages

Book Blogger Hop

This blog hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer.

Question:
Have you ever read a book written in a foreign language you might be fluent in, and then read the same book in English?


Answer:
I took four years of Spanish and I'd be lucky if I could introduce myself properly. The only language I'm fluent in is English, so no, I have never read a book in another language. I really wish I could though. I wonder what lost when books are translated from one language to another.

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Can't Wait Wednesday- Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read!

As we can see, there's no cover yet, but I CAN'T WAIT for this book. It's the fourth book in the Shatter Me series that I was pretty sure I would never get but have wished for!!
 ***

Juliette Ferrars thought she'd won. She took over Sector 45, was named the new Supreme Commander, and now has Warner by her side. But she's still the girl with the ability to kill with a single touch—and now she's got the whole world in the palm of her hand. When tragedy hits, who will she become? Will she be able to control the power she wields and use it for good?
****
Release date: March 6, 2018
 

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Review: Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

4 Stars!

Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout, the girl once dubbed "America's Fattest Teen". But no one's taken the time to look past her weight to get to know who she really is. Following her mom's death, she's been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now Libby's ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for every possibility life has to offer. In that moment I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything.

Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he's got swagger, but he's also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a newly acquired secret: He can't recognize faces. Even his own brothers are strangers to him. He's the guy who can reengineer and rebuild anything in new and badass ways, but he can't understand what's going on with the inner workings of his brain. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don't get too close to anyone.

Until he meets Libby. When the two get tangled up in a cruel high school game - which lands them in group counseling and community service - Libby and Jack are both pissed, and then surprised. Because the more time they spend together, the less alone they feel. Because sometimes when you meet someone, it changes the world, theirs and yours.

Jennifer Niven delivers another poignant, exhilarating love story about finding that person who sees you for who you are - and seeing them right back.

I'm going to need someone to tell me why EVERYONE hasn't been listening to this audio book.

LIKED:

• Jack Masselin is black with a huge afro that he loves dearly. 
• Libby, while she obviously wants to fit in and be a normal kid, she couldn't care less about what the jerks at her school think.
• She's GENUINELY happy with who she is, size and all, although she has insecurities like any other kid (or adult for that matter). 
• Jacks parents are in an interracial relationship and the woman was black while the husband was white. If you're not sure why an interracial relationship is a big deal, click here and to learn about the controversy over a Cheerios commercial. While a majority of people reacted positively to the commercial, there was enough anger to make you a little nervous.  
• Libby in the purple bikini. I can't say anything else, you just have to read it. 
• Jack has prosopagnosia. I've been interested in learning more about that diseases since I first read about it in Bone Gap. 
• The chapters alternated between Jack and Libby. I don't know if it was the fact that I listened to the book or what, but I thought they had very defined and "real" voices. Two thumbs up.

NOT SO MUCH:

• I'm going to be real, I can't think of anything. I wish Jack had told his parents about his condition earlier in the book, but his parents were kind of a mess so I can understand why he didn't.
• Libby was VERY mad at Jack when she found out where he lived, and while I sort of understand why... I thought it was a little ridiculous, but it all worked out in the end. 

IN CONCLUSION:

This book is almost five stars, for me. I'll suggest it to EVERYONE. 

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Blog Hop: Readathons

Book Blogger Hop

This blog hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer.

Question:
Do you participate in readathons and/or reading challenges?


Answer:
Absolutely not! I have no time for that. As a librarian I can sit on book award committees which require you to read certain books over a specified amount of time.With the exception of those committee's and my Goodreads challenge, no way.

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Can't Wait Wednesday- Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read!

 

We've got a black girl, in a beautiful dress (I'm not about those ruffles), and a dragon tail curling around her feet. Need I say more.

Before

Mira Minkoba is the Hopebearer. Since the day she was born, she’s been told she’s special. Important. Perfect. She’s known across the Fallen Isles not just for her beauty, but for the Mira Treaty named after her, a peace agreement which united the seven islands against their enemies on the mainland.

But Mira has never felt as perfect as everyone says. She counts compulsively. She struggles with crippling anxiety. And she’s far too interested in dragons for a girl of her station.

After

Then Mira discovers an explosive secret that challenges everything she and the Treaty stand for. Betrayed by the very people she spent her life serving, Mira is sentenced to the Pit–the deadliest prison in the Fallen Isles. There, a cruel guard would do anything to discover the secret she would die to protect.

No longer beholden to those who betrayed her, Mira must learn to survive on her own and unearth the dark truths about the Fallen Isles–and herself–before her very world begins to collapse.    

Release date: September 12, 2017

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Review: Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

Publisher: Macmillan
Publication Date: April 6, 2016
Rating: 2.5 stars

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She's a model daughter and sister, she's well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she's dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule. And now faces life-changing repercussions.
She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.
In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where obedience is paramount and rebellion is punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her-everything. (Goodreads)


This is an old review from my old blog. Although the book wasn't my favorite, it did feature a person of color. Besides, what do I know, maybe someone else will like it. 

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

I really wanted to like this book, I really did. From the description the book was a dystopian (which I like although I know some people are over it) and from the cover, the main character was a POC and being a POC myself, I really try hard to find characters that I can relate to on a physical level (particularly with all of this election foolishness). However, though I tried, I didn't like this book at all.

Celestine followed all of the rules of her society until she didn't, (MINI SPOILER BUT YOU SHOULD REALLY SEE THIS COMING FROM THE BOOK DESCRIPTION) and she's found Flawed. I must say, the part where Celestine is branded flawed is actually my favorite part of the book. Judge Craven is a pretty awesome and malicious villain, everything else, was less exciting. Celestine then sees a guy through the glass of her prison wall and although they never speak, except for one line of his, she's obsessed with him, he's constantly on her mind. I didn't buy it. I'm honestly pretty forgiving with things like this, but not this time, the author wasn't convincing at all so it got to the point that every time she though about this guy I wanted to throw my tablet across the room. If all of that had been left out (or done well) I think I would have liked the book more. The scenes with the reporter... great. The mom... weird but amusing. I also liked the Celestine's perfectionist personality at times, it's what made her leader and hero for the flawed people. I can't say I was a big fan of Art though, he just felt like a flat character.

*sigh* I wanted to like this book, I really did, it just wasn't well done in my opinion.

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Young Adult @ Heart- Saving Red

My friends and I do an online, transcontinental, book club and we had lots of thoughts about the book Saving Red. Here they are!

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Blog Hop: Reading Old Posts

Book Blogger Hop

This blog hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer.

Question:
Do you ever go "way back" to when you first started blogging and look at your old review posts? Do you see any differences from then to now?

Answer:
I haven't looked at old posts in a while. I use to do it all the time. My tone generally hasn't changed, but I think my thoughts are a bit more organized than they were before (and by before, I mean my old blog).

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Blog Hop- Movie and Book Tie-Ins

Book Blogger Hop

This blog hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer.

This weeks question:

Do you read tie-in novels to movies or television series? If so which ones?

My Answer:
I've watched some of the movies for books that I've read. If i watch the movie first I don't normally read the books. 

If we're talking about when books are written based off a movie or TV show, (such as the Buffy and Angel books our host mentioned) not really? I mean... does FanFiction count? If it does, I read a TON of Harry Potter FanFic, and I wish there was better X-Men Evolution FanFic, and more Darkest Powers FanFic. 

Reading back over this, I sounds like the worlds biggest nerd. 

Sorry not sorry!!!

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Review: Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children Books
Publication date: July 2, 2015
Rating: 4 stars

Ollie and Moritz are best friends, but they can never meet. Ollie is allergic to electricity. Contact with it causes debilitating seizures. Moritz’s weak heart is kept pumping by an electronic pacemaker. If they ever did meet, Ollie would seize. But Moritz would die without his pacemaker. Both hermits from society, the boys develop a fierce bond through letters that become a lifeline during dark times—as Ollie loses his only friend, Liz, to the normalcy of high school and Moritz deals with a bully set on destroying him.A story of impossible friendship and hope under strange circumstances, this debut is powerful, dark and humorous in equal measure. These extraordinary voices bring readers into the hearts and minds of two special boys who, like many teens, are just waiting for their moment to shine.(Goodreads)

Another review from my old blog that's why the format is different. As a blog that celebrates books with diverse characters... this book doesn't seem like it fits at first, but it kind of does... a little. I also freaking love it!

I really liked this book. It took me a while to get into the book because from the start I was not feeling Moritz, he was cranky and drove me nuts. As the boys began to tell each other their stories it was a fascinating shift. At the beginning of the book Ollie read like he had a serious case of ADD, he was all over the place in a sometimes laugh out loud kind of way. We get the impression that he's like that because he so isolated and happy to finally have someone to talk to, but as his story unfolds, we learn there's a little more to it than that.

Moritz, on the other hand reminds me of a crotchety old grandpa. However the longer he talks to Ollie, and the more encouragement that Ollie gives him, although he still remains kind of crotchety, he branches out, makes friends, and even slowly steps into a relationship. (Snaps for that by the way).

The only problem that I really had with the book was how long they drew out the mystery of what happened between Ollie and Liz. Every time it was brought up and Ollie said some version of "I'll hold that story off for another day" I was super annoyed. I felt like the author wanted to keep us hooked to the story in a pandering kind of way. Also, I didn't like Liz. I understood, but didn't understand her all at the same time. I just didn't like her.

So, that being said, this is a great book, and appropriate for all age groups. Hats off!

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Blog Hop: Books that Messed You Up.

Book Blogger Hop

 This blog hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer.

Have you ever read a book or books you would consider toxic because of the effect it (they) had on you. If so which one. 

I was scrolling through my Goodreads to see if I had ever read a book that I would consider toxic and I found one. Kill Me Softly is the biggest mess of a book that I have ever seen. At one point there's a teen girl and man in his 20's in bed together a few days after they had met, the tension was enough to make me feel SUPER uncomfortable and I read a lot of raunchy stuff. The whole book was a mess, and all it takes is for one sad impressionable girl to read this book and make some serious mistakes. It's so sad because the book had great potential.

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Review: Keep Me In Mind by Jaime Reed

Publisher: Point
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Rating: 4 stars

Ellia Dawson doesn't recognize the handsome boy who sits in tears by her hospital bed. He claims he's her boyfriend, Liam. But to Ellia, he's a stranger. She remembers her name. Her parents. Her best friend, Stacey. But Liam is a total blank in her life.
Liam McPherson is devastated. His girlfriend, Ellia, suffered a terrible accident--maybe because of him--and now she's lost her memory. But the harder Liam tries to reach Ellia, and remind her of what they had, the more she pulls away. As Ellia begins on the slow road to recovery, Liam begins work on a secret project that he hopes will bring back the girl he loved.
But can there ever be a future when the past is in pieces?

This is a review from my old blog Newbie Librarians. The format is different from the way I organize things now, but there were a few great books, that I NEEDED to share. 

I think I saw this book in the back of another book, and as someone who's always looking for books featuring African American females in non urban settings (basically people I can pretend to be) the cover of this book is what did it for me. Ellia had an accident while running with her boyfriend and can't remember the last two years of her life. If that's not bad enough, during those two years, Ellia did a lot of changing. It was during those two years that she met and began dating her boyfriend Liam, it was when she decided she wanted to make and design clothes as opposed to being an engineer like her dad wanted her to, she had also began to sneak around going bananas. What's interesting about this book is that, as Ellia begins to learn more about who she became over the two years that she didn't remember, she doesn't like the "old Ellia" and isn't sure how to handle it.

Liam... that poor kid. I'm honestly not sure what to say about him. So let me sum it all up. This is a great book. Ellia and Liam are incredibly realistic characters. I like that their racial differences were acknowledged, but didn't take over the book (FINALLY!). Learning about Liam and Ellia's relationship from the book that Liam was writing was a nice twist although I wish we could have seen more though. SPOILER. We learned that at one point Ellia and a friend ran off to a frat party and had to call Liam to pick them up and I guess there were covered in feathers. And Ellia and Liam drove around with a homeless man in the trunk. Where were those stories!!!

Anyway. This is a good book. Everyone should read it. While the ending squished my heart a bit, I thought it was 100% appropriate, realistic, and very mature. This book is appropriate for younger teens. I would have no problems giving this book to a 6th grader.

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Blog Hop- What reading means.

Book Blogger Hop

 This blog hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer.

This weeks question is:  
In one sentence, describe your passion for reading. 



Answer:
Reading is Life!!!!!

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Review: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Rating: 3.75 stars

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.
Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly's totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie's new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. If Molly can win him over, she'll get her first kiss and she'll get her twin back.
There's only one problem: Molly's coworker, Reid. He's a chubby Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there's absolutely no way Molly could fall for him.

Right?

Ultimately this is a sweet book, although I do have some thoughts to sort out so lets go.

LIKED:

• Seeing as this is a Diversity blog I liked all of the diversity. The main character had two moms (woot), one mom was white and one was black (double woot), and the main characters sister was also gay (triple woot). 
• Molly was a pretty realistic character, she had realistic flaws, goals and aspirations, and lots of questions that she didn't how know to ask. 
• Molly had so many questions about sex and kissing. I had all of these questions too. I didn't kiss anyone until college, and I didn't date anyone or have my own sexual experience until after college, so I get it. I can relate.
• I'll never be able to draw from a normal sister/sister relationship. My sister and I are 12 years apart. It'll just never happen. But I liked that there were elements of family relationships in this story and that Molly's moms were very present. 
• Molly seemed to like herself for who she was, or at least she didn't try to actively change herself which was beautiful to see.
• I liked that by the end of the book (SMALL SPOILERS?? But I don't really think so) Molly realized that her relationship with her sister might change as they get older but that's okay.

NOT A FAN:

• I thought Molly was a little too much. It's hard to explain, but she has too many... things. She was plus size (cool), she had a super outgoing sister and felt a little overshadowed (cool), she had a best friend who was drop dead gorgeous (okay), she had a cousin who was drop dead gorgeous (also cool), she was almost absolutely incapable of talking to boys she had a crush on (sure why not), she has anxiety that required medication (yup coookay). On their own, or even in groups of two or three, I'm fine with these character traits, but this was too much. I felt like the author kept piling (for lack of a better term) "issues" on this character. I'm not denying that one person can't have this many "issues" (ugh I hate that term but it's all I've got), but it just felt like a lot. 
• So, while this is clearly suppose to be a book about Molly's relationship with her sister and herslef, it felt like it leaned just a smidge too much toward "everyone else has a boyfriend except for me so I'm sad, but now I have a boyfriend and I understand all of the things." I don't think I was suppose to feel that way, in fact, I think I was suppose to feel the exact opposite. It could be my fault. I was feeling a lot of personal feelings the week I read that book and didn't really have a lot of sympathy for anyone. Sorry.

IN CONCLUSION:
I promise, I really did like this book. It was cute and sweet, as a super late bloomer I understood how it felt to watch everyone around you create these relationships and not understand why no one wanted them from you. I felt all of Molly's pain.

Because this is a diversity blog, let me also say, that growing up in a majority white town, I wondered if my dark skin and hair that didn't blow in the wind had something to do with it my lack of romantic relationships, in college actually, someone told me that was exactly why they didn't want to date me, so in defense of this book, I think some of those issues bled into how I was feeling while reading it. (THIS IS PROBABLY ANOTHER SMALL SPOILER) I think I would have liked this book better if Molly hadn't ended up with a boyfriend and was okay with it. The fact that Molly only learns to speak up for herself and fix her relationship with her sister, and comes to these revelations about life after she and the boy become an item... while it's probably a true representation, I wasn't a huge fan.

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Review: Radio Silence by Alyssa Cole

Rating: 3 Stars

No one expects the apocalypse. One moment Arden Highmore was living the life of an average Upstate New York postgrad, and the next the world went dark. No internet, no power, no running water—and no one knows why. All she and her roommate, John Seong, know for sure is that they have to get out, stat. His family’s cabin in a town near the Canadian border seems like the safest choice. Turns out isolation doesn’t necessarily equal safety. When scavengers attack en route to the cabin, John’s hot older brother, Gabriel, comes to the rescue. He saves Arden’s life, so he can’t be too bad…but the good parts seem to be hidden under several layers of controlling jerk. Arden thought reaching the cabin would give her a reprieve from her worries, but she finds her problems only grow once they arrive: the Seong’s parents have gone missing, teen sister Maggie’s growing pains won’t be stopped by an apocalypse, and no one knows when—or if—help will ever come. In the midst of all that, Arden and Gabriel find that there’s a thin line indeed between love and hate. Can they survive the darkness, or will their growing love be snuffed out?

Lets just jump right in shall we.

LIKED:

• Our cast of characters. I was a pretty big fan of everyone involved here. Arden felt like a realistic character, I liked her relationship with BFF John, Gabriel was moody in the loveliest of ways, and Maggie made me think of my own young sister (except my sister is bananas nuts).
• The chemistry between Arden and Gabriel was FOR REAL. I don't know if I can say it was the most realistic (I've never lived through the apocalypses soooooo), but I was all about those romantic moments. Two thumbs up Alyssa Cole.
• I'm always on board with interracial relationships.
• There was so much snark. I loved it.

NOT A FAN:

• So, I understand that we have never lived through a time where the whole planet basically turned off, but... there was something about this that didn't work for me. I'm not sure if was the amount of times someone said "I just want to know what's going on" or what. Maybe it was because most of the story took place in a cabin in the woods, something just didn't work. There was a disconnect for me somewhere in this world that was built for us. 
• I think the book was too short. I know there are two more books about John and Maggie, and that's great. But I think there was so much more that we could been done here. I needed another 150 pages. (She says like that's not super hard and time consuming). 

So, all in all, I'm totally fine with the book, on occasion I'll go back and read random sections of it that brought me joy. It's a new adult novel that didn't drown in sex, and at the end of the day, that's all I ask for. This book wasn't my favorite, but if someone's looking for a relaxing, romantic, apocalyptic day read, I'd give them this in a second.

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Review: Warcross by Marie Lu

Rating: 4 Stars

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down Warcross players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty-hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. To make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she’s going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika’s whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she’s only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

In this sci-fi thriller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu conjures an immersive, exhilarating world where choosing who to trust may be the biggest gamble of all.

Marie Lu has done it again, she's managed to take all of the guess work and complications out of creating a great story with diverse characters. We have our Asian main character with four teammates, Emika's teammates include one black girl with curly natural hair (although I had to suspend my disbelief during a morning scene and she wasn't wearing a sleep cap. Just sayin'), a boy (their team leader as a matter of fact) in a wheelchair, a gay British guy, and the plain old white guy. It was lovely without being too much.

LIKED:

• Emika, she was like a lonewolf and had rainbow colored hair. Two thumbs up.
• The diverse cast. If they ever make this into a movie, I'm auditioning (like that'll ever happen)
•  Going into the dark net. Seeing the seedy underground of the tech world was fascinating. 
• There was a pretty big reveal at the end. I actually called it early on in the book, but not because of anything that the author did wrong, I just had a gut feeling!

NOT A FAN:

• Soooo, without any spoilers, I was able to draw some pretty important conclusions about the book and it's characters from one word on the cover. That's all I will say.
• I wish there had been more interaction between Emika and her teammates, I feel like we didn't really get to know anything about them.(Although a big nod to that side romance. I totally called it). I'm going to assume we'll learn more about the others in future books.
•  When reading about the games that teams competed in... I think I was expecting something more like Ready Player One, but each competition moved at a much faster pace. It was great, I think I just had the wrong mindset. I think wanting games or puzzles that took the characters longer to solved would have helped us to learn more about them.

IN CONCLUSION:
While I had some issues with the book (very small issues) I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to seeing what Marie Lu comes up with next. #warcross 

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Book Blogger Hop: Sidebar Issues

Book Blogger Hop

 This blog hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer.

This weeks question is:  
How do you organize your blog in terms of what is in your side bar? Do you have categories and defined sections in your side bar?

This is such a helpful question. Thank you whoever submitted it. So I've been blogging for about four years on an off, but this particular blog is brand new. When I went to blogger to create this blog I learned that the whole layout system had changed and I'm still struggling to figure it out. I don't have anything in my side bar aside from what I'm currently reading on Goodreads, and my top bar(??) has the different ways a person can follow me, but I might change that.

With my old blog (Newbie Librarians), my sidebar didn't really have sections, but I guess I wanted to keep it relatively simple (I learned that at the BEA bloggers conference), so I had the various ways a person could follow me, my list of followers, and a few awards. As soon as I figure out how, I'm going to rearrange the sidebar on this page the same way.

I'm interested in seeing what other people post and to see if anyone else ended up with this weird blog layout that I can hardly understand. :)

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Review: The Sun is also a Star by Nicola Yoon

 

Rating: 5 stars

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

Natasha is about to be deported and is spending her last day fighting it. Daniel has an interview at Yale, but all he wants to do is write poetry and smell the roses.When a series of random events leads Daniel to see Natasha and follow her into a record store, he's in "like" at first sight. He's entranced by, not only her physically, but by her energy (she was dancing to music she was listening to through her headphones). Natasha and Daniel end up spending the rest of the day together and continue to fall for each, while we readers wonder if Natasha and her family will really be forced to move back to Jamaica. 

Liked:

• Natasha and Daniel were so different (not just racially) 
• While the book didn't center on race, there were some real issues that interracial couples have to deal with.
• The third person narrator that filled us in on the lives of additional, random seeming characters and events.
• The book had many realistic elements that might upset some of the less experienced readers who want everything to be perfect, but really drove the book forward.
• There were characters to hate. 
• The ambiguous ending

Didn't Like:

•  I listening to the audio book and I wasn't to fond on the voice to Natasha (personal preference)
• Natasha is very cynical, and that's fine, it's realistic. I think her cynical nature toward Daniel, and their day, lasted too long. I think it was just a little too much.  

In Conclusion:

While at first glance The Sun is Also the Star is another love at firs sight book that, while cute, may also make us roll our eyes. On a personal level, Nicola Yoon is one of my favorite types of #WeNeedDiverseBooks author. She writes books about POC that reflect the type of diverse person I am, more than some other authors of color. While my childhood (until I was about 7) was spend in an urban, rather dangerous area, the rest of my childhood into my teen years, were spent in Navy Housing, I guess is similar to a suburban environment. This book truly resonated with me. When are we turning this into a movie. Can I audition!!!!!

Other authors I've read, that are similar Nicola Yoon might be Lamar Giles, Brandy Colbert, and Una LaMarche. (There are a ton more, those three are just some of my favorites.)

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Book Blogger Hop: Lunch date!

Book Blogger Hop

Welcome to my first Blogger Hop on my new blog!! This blog hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer.

This weeks question is: If you could have lunch with any living authors and/ or book blogger, who would you choose and why?

I'm going to cheat and choose two people because they are so different they are impossible to choose between. First I would choose Anne Bishop because her fantasy novels are PERFECT. I didn't even like fantasy until I read her Black Jewel books.

 

The second person I would have lunch with is, Nicola Yoon. She writes the kind of diverse fiction with strong girls of color that I have been waiting for my whole life. I also love a good romance. Not only do I want to have lunch with Nicola, I just want to be her best friend.

 

 

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Review: If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

Rating: 5 Stars
Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone.
But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won't be able to see past it.
Because the secret that Amanda’s been keeping? It's that at her old school, she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life, and her new love?
Just a warning I had an advanced copy of this book that I totally forgot about, I don't know what, if anything, was changed in the final copy of the book, but my review will be based on the advanced readers copy. I was such a fan of this book. I was hooked from the authors notes on. I love how Meredith Russo wrote a message not only to her trans readers but to her non trans readers (me) as well. I could relate to Amanda in ways that I didn't expect. As a girl who just wanted to fit in and be accepted. It was beautiful and while I understand that Meredith Russo did take certain liberties with plot and characterization, I give her two thumbs up.

Liked:

• I loved Amanda. Despite the fact that she was terrified, she took delicate steps toward the life she'd always wanted. She also wasn't perfect, and didn't pretend to be. I consider her a fully fleshed out, believable characters. Despite the fact that she was gorgeous and sometimes I get tired of reading about pretty people. (JK... mostly)
• Amanda's dad. He wasn't in the book a ton, but he was there just enough to make an impact. Although he did his best to accept Amanda, he was practically falling over in fear. It was almost enough to make you feel bad for him. I don't know anything about being trans or being the parents of a trans child, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was how a lot of parents reacted. Fighting to understand and accept, while terrified of what may happen.
• The ending. Without spoilers, I want to say that I though the end of the book (in regards to Amanda's friends and Grant) was perfect. It wasn't a neat and tidy bow (like something you may see on the Lifetime Channel), but it was very realistic and satisfying.

Didn't Like:

• I didn't actually dislike anything. I think my struggle was in wanting to know more as a non trans person. Why didn't Amanda want to say what her birth name was, why didn't she want to talk about her genitalia (ugh, the sounds so dumb. No one wants to talk about their genitalia and you shouldn't be forced to). I can assume it was because she was trying to set Andrew behind her and couldn't do that if she kept talking about being a boy, but what do I know. I'm just guessing. I would have liked to know a little more about her surgery, but again, the bulk of the story was about Amanda finding Amanda, not Andrew turning into Amanda. 
• At the end of the day, I, as a black woman with natural hair, can understand how exhausting it is to explain yourself all the time. "No I have never gotten a sun burn" "No this isn't all my real hair I got extensions" "Why you ask, because I can." "Yeah, fine, you can touch my hair" "How do I get it like that you ask..." Yes we need to educate people on these things, but it's freaking exhausting sometimes, and sometimes you just don't feel like it. While I would have liked to learn more about a person being trans through Amanda, I can also understand why we didn't. Besides, I'm a librarian, I can just look it up.   :)

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Review: The Steep & Thorny Way by Cat Winters

Rating: 4 stars

A thrilling reimagining of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Steep and Thorny Way tells the story of a murder most foul and the mighty power of love and acceptance in a state gone terribly rotten.
 

1920s Oregon is not a welcoming place for Hanalee Denney, the daughter of a white woman and an African-American man. She has almost no rights by law, and the Ku Klux Klan breeds fear and hatred in even Hanalee’s oldest friendships. Plus, her father, Hank Denney, died a year ago, hit by a drunk-driving teenager. Now her father’s killer is out of jail and back in town, and he claims that Hanalee’s father wasn’t killed by the accident at all but, instead, was poisoned by the doctor who looked after him—who happens to be Hanalee’s new stepfather.
 

The only way for Hanalee to get the answers she needs is to ask Hank himself, a “haint” wandering the roads at night.

Hanalee lives in Oregon in in 1923. She is the biracial child of a black father, and a white mother. When the book begins, Hanalee's father is dead. He was killed when he was hit by a car... or so we think. The kid who hit Hanalee's father with the car, Joe, thinks that it wasn't the accident that killed him, it was Hanalee's new step-father, the same man who treated her father, Dr. Koning. But it turns out, there are more secrets to unwrap than Hanalee and Joe were ready for.

This is not an #ownvoices book, but don't let that stop you, it's worth a read.


Liked:

• The book took place in a state where racial tensions are never really discussed in history class. 
• The book kind of hit the ground running, people were hiding in the woods, and shooting at each other in the first eight chapters. I was sure someone would wind up dead before this book was done.
• The book was full of racial tension, but it was handled in a way that would allow me to hand this book to a middle school kid. Some books that handle racism, and the KKK are so terrifying, and intense, and raw that they give me nightmares. This book was more delicate, but not in a bad white washed way.
• Although I was HEARTBROKEN at what he relationships between Hanalee and Laurence had become, I though it was a great addition to the story. So well done. 
• LGBT
• The pictures
• Read the authors notes

Didn't Like:

• I thought the ghost element could have been removed from the story and it wouldn't have made a difference. 
• The Dr. Koning that we saw at the beginning of the book was so different from the one we saw at the end that it took me out of the story a bit, it felt inconsistent.

In Conclusion:
This is a great book that I think everyone should read. The author obviously did a lot of research and although she isn't black or biracial I think she did this story justice. Her authors notes go a long way in explaining her thoughts while writing this book and when she was about to publish it. The book also goes a long way in explaining why it isn't... I guess you could say scarier. I know that I am one of many, but I, as a black woman, am not offended by this book and I figure that's worth saying.

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