NB: Patty Blount and I are both Members of LIRW chapter 160. Here’s the thing. As a general rule, I love to pull interesting threads out of books when I review. It’s wonderful to be able to talk about the books I adore through the lens of the world I live in. Some Boys is the kind of book that defeats that reviewing technique, mostly because the entire book is wonderfully crafted around an issue. … Continue reading Some Boys by Patty Blount →
Plus One is a YA novel, and, as such, it comes with all the problems that make many books of that genre unappealing to adults like me. It is plot driven at the expense of character development or world building. The dialogue can be awkward and unrealistic. The themes are simplistic and obvious. The reader sees the surprises coming at least five chapters before the characters do. The protagonist makes tons of mistakes with no … Continue reading Plus One by Elizabeth Fama →
NB: Trigger warnings for rape, rape culture, and bullying in this review. When I signed up to review Some Boys, I was nervous. Unlike my usual method of picking books to review, I actually read the description for this one. My immediate reaction was, “Oh, damn. Yeah. That needs to be talked about.” But I can’t demand that shit be talked about and not step up to the plate myself, so I signed up. And … Continue reading Some Boys by Patty Blount →
Boys Like You has two different covers (one for the hardback, one for the paperback), and yet neither gives an accurate impression of the story inside. This is a novel about two people who are being crushed under the weight of their own guilt finding each other and the means to forgive themselves. The bright and colorful cover of the paperback screams “teen summer romance,” which is technically accurate while completely missing the tone of … Continue reading Boys Like You by Juliana Stone →
This nominated story was originally released as a six-part serial but is now available as two full-length books — Deception So Deadly and Deception So Dark. On Kindle the series/parts are $1.99 each and the full-length books are $2.99 each so you’re better off to just go for the two books at $6 instead of the six-part series at $12. I don’t think you’ll be content with stopping after Part I – it gets even … Continue reading Run to You by Clara Kensie →
This book grabbed me from page one and didn’t let me go. The only reason I stopped reading was because of pesky necessities of the real world (work, food, sleep, etc.). While I was reading I both desperately wanted to know what would happen to the characters and desperately didn’t want to know. Elizabeth Fama doesn’t hold back from making her protagonists suffer and struggle. She throws every obstacle in their way and doesn’t give … Continue reading Plus One by Elizabeth Fama →
