Review: Symptoms of a Heart Break by Sona Charaipotra

Fresh from med school, sixteen-year-old medical prodigy Saira arrives for her first day at her new job: treating children with cancer. She’s always had to balance family and friendships with her celebrity as the Girl Genius—but she’s never had to prove herself to skeptical adult co-workers while adjusting to real life-and-death stakes. And working in the same hospital as her mother certainly isn’t making things any easier.

But life gets complicated when Saira finds herself falling in love with a patient: a cute teen boy who’s been diagnosed with cancer. And when she risks her brand new career to try to improve his chances, it could cost her everything.

It turns out “heartbreak” is the one thing she still doesn’t know how to treat.

3 Stars

(I was provided a copy of the book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review)

16 year old Saira is the Girl Genius. She was in college by age 12 and by 16 has finished medical school and is a hospital resident in the children’s oncology ward, and she’s off to a rough start. She’s late her first day, her supervisor seems to hate her, and she’s beginning to develop a relationship with one of her patients.

I liked this book. I liked learning about Saira, her culture, and her family. The descriptions of food were divine! Seeing the family interact at pizza hut did a great job of painting a picture of the family dynamic quickly and easily. Although a clear picture of Saira’s family was painted for us, I wish we’d had more intimate moments with Saira and her family.

With regards to Saira’s “friends”, they were hard to read about. Saira has spent her whole life working hard toward her goals. She chose to skip high school and the socialization it teaches, she chose to spend most of her time with her family watching Bollywood movies, and of the kids she knew before she joined the gifted program, she chose to only retain two friendships, Vish and Lizzie. While I hated that Vish put Saira into a position where she was forced to life for him every day, I thought he was a great character, I don’t think we saw enough of Lizzie though. When Lizzie and Saira got into a fight, I felt like I was supposed to have some sympathy for Lizzie but I didn’t. I don’t know if it was because her character wasn’t developed enough, or what, but I didn’t feel much.

Saira’s coworkers were full of surprises, and by coworkers I mean Jose, he was my favorite character in the book. I liked Saira’s interactions with her patients and their families and although I feel like everything happened very quickly. It feels like Saira met with each patron maybe 4 times. I just didn’t feel for them the way I think I should have.

Reading this book was interesting because I thought I was going to be reading a book about doctor who happened to be a teen genius, but I think I read about a teen who happened to be a genius and a doctor.

Read more »

Review: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Her story is a phenomenon. Her life is a disaster.

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.

Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.

But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.




4 STARS

Man did I connect with Eliza. Eliza would rather live her life through a computer screen. She has friends but she doesn't need to meet them to consider them real. Her parents mean well, but the tactics that they concoct to "connect" with Eliza seem to have more to do with their own needs and interest than hers. Her younger brothers are... younger brothers, and the kids at school treat her like she's been infected by the Black Plague. Eliza has dedicated herself to keep her head down, her mouth closed, and to pray for graduation.

Amidst her issues and avoidance's at school and at home, Eliza is the creator of one of the most popular web comics around. She has fans, merchandise, and people doing fanfics and fanart about the world and characters that she's created. And while one would think that the popularity of her web comic would drip over into real life, it doesn't, because aside from her parents, only two other people know that Eliza created Monstrous Sea (sort of).

When Wallace enters the picture, Eliza, for the first time, meets a fan of her comic in real life! She meets someone who not only connects with her through her work, but understands her goals, ambitions, and her reserved nature.

It takes a while before the book tells us but Eliza has pretty intense anxiety. She hates crowds, avoids as many conversations as possible, and the idea of the notoriety that may accompany her identity as Monstrous Sea's creator seem to be almost too much to bear.

While reading about Eliza I understood her 100%. I also grew up in a family of sports addicts, and all I wanted to do was read books, write stories, listen to show tunes, and be left alone. It hard for people to imagine because I'm so chatty and bubbly and sassy. But fun fact, that's also a "super fun" way some people handle anxiety. So even though Eliza could be obnoxious and unfair and downright mean to her family sometimes. I get it. It's an almost uncontrollable reaction sometimes and can result from feeling panicked.

Between Eliza and Wallace, who struggles to speak in front of crowds I felt like this book was necessary. I wish there were most stories like this when I was in middle school and high school. I Will say that Wallace's actions at the end of this book were very out of character and almost didn't seem to fit with this book, but aside from this few chapters at the end, I call this book a win!

Read more »

Review: The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

Maddie and Theo have two things in common:

1. Alexa is their best friend
2. They hate each other
After an "oops, we made a mistake" night together, neither one can stop thinking about the other. With Alexa's wedding rapidly approaching, Maddie and Theo both share bridal party responsibilities that require more interaction with each other than they're comfortable with. Underneath the sharp barbs they toss at each other is a simmering attraction that won't fade. It builds until they find themselves sneaking off together to release some tension when Alexa isn't looking, agreeing they would end it once the wedding is over. When it’s suddenly pushed up and they only have a few months left of secret rendezvouses, they find themselves regretting that the end is near. Two people this different can’t possibly have a connection other than the purely physical, right?

But as with any engagement with a nemesis, there are unspoken rules that must be abided by. First and foremost, don't fall in love. 

2.5 STARS
 
When I read the description of this book, I was eager to read it. Because books are not just my hobby, but my job, sometimes I like to set aside the middle grade and young adult, and pick up a cozy romance read, and if the main character migrate from enemies to lovers, all the better!!

The Wedding Party had great bones. We've got two people who can't stand each other, but they share a best friend (never read a book with that particular twist). Maddie, a personal shopper, thinks that Theo is pompous and conceited. Theo knows that he didn't portray himself in the best light when he met Maddie, but doesn't think there's much he can do about it now. When Maddie and Theo end up in bed together, they're both kind of horrified. After a second "encounter" they decide that they can continue their sexual realtions, as long as they don't tell their best friend Alexa (who is the protagonist in Guillory's first book in this series The Wedding Date).

As expected, the more time Theo and Maddie spend together the more their feelings for each other grow. Then begin to spend time together as friends, not just lovers. I loved the concept, it's like... the bullet points of the this book were LOVELY. Meet at birthday party, meet at engagement party, margaritas in the backyard, wedding dress shopping for the best friend, lost keys with no one else to call, this book rang all the right bells.

My struggle with the book was the writing. And let me say I'm not a writer. I have no aspirations of publishing my own book, I'm a Librarian and that's all I want to be. But the writing was... all over the place. I felt like I was reading the first draft of a book and the author didn't do any proof reading. There were passages such as "Refill? My mom insists on doing a toast, so everyone needs some champagne to be prepared." It just doesn't roll of the tongue, it doesn't feel organic. Something like " 'Refill? My mom insist on doing a toast,' Alexa sighed rolling her eyes and reaching for another bottle of champagne."(Again, not a writer) Or how about "They kissed, and kissed, and kissed..." I mean there had to have been another way, even if we stopped after the first kiss. There's a section in the book where (spoiler) Theo gives Maddie a key to his apartment and tells her she's welcome to let herself in. Her response is "Okay, sure, I anticipate a lot of 'I need to get into Theo's apartment or else the dinosaur on the loose might capture me' emergencies." I understand what was suppose to happen here, that was suppose to be a quirky, sassy, cute comment, but it just didn't work for me.

Like I said above, I did get this book from Netgalley, so it hasn't been published, but this is the first Netgalley book I've ever gotten where I read sentences like the ones I mentioned above. There was a section of the book where a protest got out of control and someone was attacked. Maddie, our main character, has with random mental aside, amidst the chaos that immediately takes me out of the action of the scene. It didn't fit, it wasn't appropriate

I recognize that I might be one of the few people who didn't fall head over heals for this author and book series, but trust me, I wanted to.  I want nothing more than a cozy romance with two black characters. Roxanne Gay reviewed a book in this series and gave it a high star rating, so feel free to ignore this review if you want to, but I was give a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and this is what I've got.

Read more »