Ed. note: This was intended to run in January but due to a snafu on our end, it didn’t publish. So, holiday romance? Sure! All year long, right! … I’m a firm believer that there is no such thing as an objective review. If there IS such a thing, let me tell you up front that this review is not objective in the slightest. One of the first things I wrote for this site was … Continue reading Holiday Heroine by Sarah Kuhn
From Little Tokyo, With Love is a modern day, urban, feminist Cinderella meets nure-onna. It is a YA featuring a biracial girl with a ‘kaiju temper’ who prefers monsters to princesses and I am totally here for it. Riki is the daughter of a Japanese-American woman who died in childbirth. Her father, who abandoned Riki’s mother when she found out she was pregnant, was White. Riki is being raised by her Japanese-American aunts, alongside her … Continue reading From Little Tokyo, With Love by Sarah Kuhn
After three novels and a novella, you’d think I’d run out of new things to say about the Heroine Complex series, but the fourth book, Haunted Heroine, found new ways to surprise and delight me. This series involves a group of women, some with superpowers, who fight paranormal manifestations in San Francisco and who form a family. There’s Evie Tanaka, her sister Bea, Evie’s best friend Annie Chang AKA Aveda Jupiter, and trainer and bodyguard … Continue reading Haunted Heroine by Sarah Kuhn
DC is putting out a series of stand-alone graphic novels for teens that also appeals to adults. So far, the series has a lot of diverse representation among authors, artists, and characters so even though I’m not a huge DC reader I am ALL OVER these books. One of the first books, Sarah Kuhn’s Shadow of the Batgirl, has given us a new version of the Cassandra Cain story (Cassandra was one of the Batgirls … Continue reading Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn
I Love You So Mochi is an adorable YA with a romance in it, although it’s more of a coming of age story than a romance novel. In this book, Kimi, a Japanese-American high school senior, visits Japan to Find Herself. In the process she connects with her Japanese grandparents, meets A BOY, sees cool stuff, makes things, and eats fantastic food. Kimi is a likeable and engaging heroine, everything is gorgeous, and now I’m hungry … Continue reading I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn
Heroine’s Journey is the third book in the diverse, fun, feminist Heroine Complex trilogy. In theory it could work as a stand alone, but it will be easier to follow and a more emotional read if you read the other two books in the series first (Heroine Complex and Heroine Worship). More books in this world are planned, but the first three, which are intended as “the first trilogy,” make an emotionally satisfying arc about … Continue reading Heroine’s Journey by Sarah Kuhn
While nothing can match the divine quality of the movie Clueless, the graphic novel Clueless: Senior Year is a fun reunion with Cher, Dionne, and Tai, the main characters from the movie. If you haven’t seen the movie, you should watch it before reading the comic, because the comic will make more sense and because everyone should watch Clueless. The story picks up on Cher’s last day of junior year. One of her teachers tells … Continue reading Clueless: Senior Year by Amber Benson and Sarah Kuhn
Heroine Worship is the second book in a series about people with superpowers in San Francisco. I previously reviewed the first book, Heroine Complex, which followed the journey of Evie Tanaka, who broke out of the shadow of her overbearing friend, Aveda Jupiter, AKA Annie Chang. If you had told me, back when I reviewed Heroine Complex, that I would end up identifying more with the problems of Aveda/Annie, than with Evie, I would have thought … Continue reading Heroine Worship by Sarah Kuhn
Full disclosure: I’m super fond of Sarah Kuhn because I love her writing, her Twitter feed is the best, and she owns a dress with unicorns all over it. Also I’m going to be on a panel with her at San Diego Comic-Con. So I’m biased in her favor. But bias aside, I think it’s fair to say that Heroine Complex is incredibly fun. Heroine Complex is told from the point of view of Evie … Continue reading Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
My much awaited copy of One Con Glory arrived on the same day that I was supposed to be preparing for my daughter’s seventh birthday party. Let me give you some context here. This is my only child. She is a girl so beautiful that I can’t believe she’s real, a kid who can take on five boys at recess during a spirited game of Star Wars and whup them all into submission while wearing … Continue reading One Con Glory by Sarah Kuhn, a guest review by Carrie S.
Can Lois Lane scrap her entire life plan for an unpredictable summer of ride-or-die friendships, swoony romance, and writing her truth? Ambitious small-town girl Lois Lane tackles a summer in National City with gusto, but a cavalcade of setbacks-including an annoying frenemy roommate, a beyond-tedious internship at a suddenly corporatized website, and a boss who demotes her to coffee-fetching minion-threatens to derail her extremely detailed life plan. And, you know, her entire future! When Lois … Continue reading Girl Taking Over
