As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been annoyingly behind on book reviews, and I’m so sorry! I’ve read a good number of good books so far this year, and I still want to share them with you! Especially as these ones seem to be flying under the radar a bit, and I need to tell you why you have to read them right now. These three YA books affected me in the best way: keeping me thinking about them much longer after reading them.

You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner

I feel like this book is saying to me “You’re Welcome for the Book Hangover, Jessica.” Julia is deaf, Indian-American, has two deaf moms, and yet none of those qualifiers to who she is equal to what the story is about, which I really admired. She is who she is, and her story isn’t about being an outsider in any of those ways – it’s about how she has a hard time making friends, has some anger issues, and has trouble expressing herself without being contained. When she covers up slang about her supposed best friend on the wall of their school, that friend snitches on her, leading her to get expelled. She transfers to a school where she’s the only deaf person – people definitely do not know how to act around her – which means she’s more eager than ever to claim space of her own through her art. But soon someone starts adding to her art – not tagging over it, but actually making it better – leaving Julia angry, confused and paranoid. Instead of freaking out and going dark for a while, she takes on the challenge to her art and identity.

Julia’s a strong character, and I really enjoyed reading her story. I liked reading about how people spoke to her and how she reacted to them. She often wanted people to adjust for her, rather than her adjust for them, which I thought was a fair thought, especially for a teenager. I also loved reading about her friendship that she slowly forms with another girl who she only calls Yoga Pants. This book has a lot of colour and character, and I will highly recommend it to anyone, especially those who read mostly YA and are looking for something fresh and vibrant.

Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos

This book is somethin’ else. It’s different from most YAs I’ve read – it’s dark and yet sickly funny. My only criticism is that it didn’t exactly read like YA in terms of the fact that the main character, a fifteen-year-old girl named Jackie Stone, is kind of the least interesting character in the whole book, and her story is often overshadowed. But anyways that is not enough to deter. I was fascinated by this story and would love to talk about it more!

Jackie’s father has just found out that he has a brain tumour. He freaks out because he doesn’t know how his family will provide for themselves once he’s inevitably gone, and does something really drastic. He puts his life up for sale online to the highest bidder. We learn about all the bidders and their creepy motivations for wanting to buy his life, like wanting to hunt a human, but the winner ends up being a ruthless TV executive, who turns the family home into a reality show, which really puts a blender to Jackie’s life. Not only do we get a peek into all these really ridiculous characters, but we also hear the story straight from the brain tumour. That’s right. He eats the father’s memories. YA often has multiple character POVs but I’ve never read anything that told a story from a brain tumour! This tragicomedy was a refreshing and disturbing read all at once, and it’s a great examination on the lengths people will go for what they want.

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

This book is SO SWEET. I want to stroke it – which isn’t hard to imagine as the cover is gorgeous pink hair. It’s one big adorable story that you will forever look back fondly on. I read a review somewhere that said how the story was basically the best outcome for all the characters – nothing really terrible happens to them – and I was like … I have no problem with this. After all, it takes place over a weekend, and these characters totally deserve to get what they want.

Three friends from Australia fly all the way to California for SupaCon, a big fan convention that holds everything their dreams are made of. Charlie is a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie, hoping to get the chance to show everyone that she’s over her very public break-up with her co-star. But she’s sidetracked when she meets another vlogger named Alyssa Huntington, also her internet crush, and realizes that Alyssa likes her too. Taylor and Jamie are along for the ride with Charlie – but Taylor’s biggest motivation is that the author of her favourite fandom will be at the Con, and with her super heavy collection of books toted from across the world, Taylor’s convinced that if she can meet her idol, she can be cured of her shell. She’s autistic and anxious, and really, really in love with her best guy friend Jamie. Taylor and Jamie have basically been that couple that everyone knows loves each other but never does anything about it, so their romantic tension is ridiculously cute. By the end of the book, I wanted to pick up Charlie, Alyssa, Taylor, and Jamie into one giant hug and tell them all how much I was rooting for them. If you’re into geek culture, LGBTQ stories, and super endearing characters, you will love this book.

Thank you to Raincoast Books, who provided review copies of Life in a Fishbowl and Queens of Geek in exchange for honest reviews.

What have you been reading lately?

Perfection is a feeling; you’ll know it if you’ve ever questioned the competency of your penmanship before writing on the first page of a new notebook.

Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall, via Clarion Books, out now.

Under Rose-Tainted Skies is one of my favourite books of 2017 so far. When I first heard of it, I was hesitant, because it sounded a lot like Everything, Everything and Finding Audrey, but I’m glad I was proven wrong. While the main characters of all three books are girls who are stuck in their homes for some illness reason, only this one explains mental illness so beautifully.

Norah’s body won’t let her outside the house. When she has a therapy appointment, her mother has to drag her down the driveway to the car because she’ll collapse. Between anxiety, OCD, and agoraphobia, Norah’s hit a thousand times, every day, pretty hard. You’d be exhausted too. But she takes it, she’s grown used to it.

They, the geeks that deal in brain stuff, they’re the one who christened what I have an invisible illness, but I often wonder if they’re really looking. Beyond the science stuff. It doesn’t bleed or swell, itch or crack, but I see it, right there on my face. It’s like decay, this icky green color, as if my life were being filmed through a gray filter. I lack light, am an entire surface area that the sun can’t touch.

She knows how to handle herself, as much as she misses having a life and being outside of her house. She’s been getting by just fine until she notices that the boy who just moved in next door, Luke, has noticed her through the window. But things get a lot worse when Norah’s mom was in a car accident and has to stay at the hospital, leaving Norah all alone without any help. When groceries are delivered to the house but left on the porch, Norah tries to reach them with a broom from the front door, but thankfully, Luke comes to the rescue. From there, Norah learns how to let Luke in, and Luke learns what it’s like for Norah. Of course, it’s pretty hard to date when one person can’t leave their house without passing out. But their relationship blossoms nonetheless. And it’s friggin adorable.

What I loved most about this book is Louise’s writing, how she describes what Norah goes through. I felt like I was riding along Norah’s thought processes, feeling what it would feel like to have OCD and anxiety like hers. I was fascinated, and I’d recommend this as a way for people to learn how to understand those disorders.

Here are some of my favourite gorgeous quotes:

“I miss the days when I could have a panic attack in peace.”

“I’m more thought than flesh; a thousand questions flop down with me and make the room shake like an earthquake is running right through it.”

“See, anxiety doesn’t just stop. You can have nice moments, minutes where it shrinks, but it doesn’t leave. It lurks in the background like a shadow, like that important assignment you have to do but keep putting off or the dull ache that follows a three-day migraine. The best you can hope for is to contain it, make it as small as possible so it stops being intrusive. Am I coping? Yes, but it’s taking a monumental amount of effort to keep the dynamite inside my stomach from exploding.”

“Whether I like to admit it or not, anxiety has become my best friend. It’s a crutch that helps me hobble through life. It’s the brassy bitch at school that I don’t like, but being her BFF makes me popular. Or the school bully that I don’t really want to be around, but being his friend means I don’t want to get beat up. I don’t know how to be safe without it. We’re buddies. It’s like they say: keep your friends close, your enemies closer.”

It’s not included in the final copy, but in the ARC, there was a note from Louise explaining her background to the story. She wrote about how it stemmed from her own issues with anxiety, and how Norah emerged from her notes of what was going on in her head. She also wrote how she believes passionately in talking about mental health, which is obviously something I really admire.

But while Norah was so strong, there were a few things in the story that could have used more fleshing out, like why Norah’s mom had to be mysteriously in the hospital for so long besides being an excuse for Norah and Luke to become closer, and maybe a bit more about Norah’s past. I also have an issue with the ending, but I can see why it went the way it did. Overall, I feel so warm and loving towards this book and Norah and I hope more people pick it up. I’m definitely interested in reading more from Louise.

[I received this book from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review; this did not affect my opinion of the book whatsoever.]

The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, via Balzer + Bray, out now.

You’ve probably seen this book everywhere on the internet in the last few weeks, maybe even months. Good. It’s an incredibly important book. I wouldn’t say it’s the first YA book on Black Lives Matter (just because I don’t have anything to back that up, but I haven’t seen anything else) but it definitely is the first to make such a big impact. And a good thing is there are more books like this coming in the next few years, at least, such as Nic Stone’s Dear Martin. The Hate U Give was in such high demand that the publisher pushed its pub date up by half a year, also having it come out on the last day of Black History Month, and five years since Trayvon Martin’s death, marking the start of the Black Lives Matter movement. I think that was a good idea, because the hunger for this book was REAL, and the book itself honours these important moments in history. And now we get to wait for the movie!

I loved The Hate U Give. I gave it 5 stars. I have a good feeling it’ll end up on my end-of-year list. There’s so much about this book that gives it strength. There’s the fact that it’s a YA book about Black Lives Matter, obviously. The main character, a sixteen-year-old girl named Starr, is so loveable and her family dynamics are heartwarming. You’ll be missing them once you’re done reading. I finished the book a month or two ago and I still miss them. And Angie Thomas definitely shines as a debut writer who’s going to have a huge following awaiting for her next book! She wrote with such emotion, pure love, and power.

Here’s a quick plot gist: Starr is on her way home from a party with an old friend, Kamil, when they get pulled over by a cop, who says their tail light is broken. When he doesn’t like the way Kamil answers him, who really is just asking for the cop to give him his ticket, he makes Kamil stand outside the car, and not to move. When the cop turns his back, Kamil shifts to check on Starr, and that’s when he’s shot. He dies, looking at Starr, stunned. Starr is then jolted into a part of life she wants no part of. Her parents shield her from the press and the public from finding out that she was the witness for as long as they can. Starr’s in more danger than she would have thought. But eventually, someone needs to speak up, someone needs to be there for Kamil, someone needs to acknowledge what happened. Starr has to find her voice, her place in the world, and closure over such a horrible death … it’s a lot for a teenage girl.

I feel like I don’t need to say much else to convince you to read one of the biggest YA books of 2017. It may look big, but you’ll speed through it. You may cry when Starr’s friend Kamil is shot. You will feel Starr’s anger as she is left to cope with the uprising, riots, and ignorance that follows. You will feel her confusion as she is fast-forwarded into the real world. You will feel protective over her and her family, just as they do. And still, you’ll be able to laugh, because Starr has her way of making things brighter.

[I received an advanced reading copy of this book from HarperCollins Canada in exchange for an honest review; this did not affect my opinion of the book whatsoever.]

If today was your last day alive, and you had the chance to keep living it, what would you do differently? What would you say to the people you love? What would you learn about yourself? How long would it take for you to go a little bit nuts?

Lauren Oliver’s 2010 YA novel Before I Fall has just been turned into a movie, and it’s out this week. I had the pleasure of seeing a screening thanks to HarperCollins and Indigo. I really loved Replica so I was instantly interested. I bought the book a few weeks ago and finished it on Monday, just in time. So I want to share my thoughts on both with you guys!

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Love and First Sight, by Josh Sundquist, via Little, Brown, out now.

If there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s people feeling sorry for me.

Love and First Sight ticked a lot of good boxes for me. Cute YA love story? Check. Great characters? Check. An opportunity to learn about how life is for someone unlike me? Check. Funny, heartwarming, smart? Check, check, check.

Will is starting at a new high school, which is hard enough as it is, but it’s 10x harder when you’re blind and have to be led around by the vice principal, who shouts at everyone to ‘clear the path! Blind student coming through!’ Will decided to leave his high school for blind students to try and have a more normal life, as normal as it can get for a blind kid in a high school. On his first day, he accidentally grabs a girl’s boob, sits in a guy’s lap, and somehow made a classmate cry because she thought he was staring at her.

The girl who cried is Cecily, and despite the bad start, her and Will become very close once they’re partnered together in journalism class. Will is the writer, Cecily is the photographer. One of my favourite scenes is when they go to an art gallery and Cecily has to figure out how to explain the point of painting to someone who has never seen anything before.

“Um, let me think of an example.” She pauses. “Okay, it’s like how you can be looking at something, a person or a beautiful landscape like, I don’t know, the Grand Canyon, but then you take a photo with a cell phone camera and it doesn’t look the same. It takes skill even to create photos that represent what the eye sees.”

Sigh. Will people never learn? “Still doesn’t mean much to me.”

“Oh, right, sorry. I guess it’s like… You know what my voice sounds like, right?”

“Yeah.” I ponder her voice for a moment. It’s controlled and pressurized, like the water flowing through a turbine in a dam. But dams don’t just generate power. They are a barricade. They hold back a flood.

“And the sound of my voice is very clear coming through your ears?”

The question interrupts my thoughts about hydro-power. “Sure.”

“Can you imitate it?”

“How do you mean?”

“Like, can you re-create the sound of my voice using your own vocal cords?”

“Oh… I think I get it now.”

Will easily falls into a group of friends (after he sits on that guy’s lap), which happen to be Cecily’s friends, too. As the pair grows closer and closer, even daring each other to try out for the school’s news anchor team, something is still going unsaid. Cecily drops hints about how she’s been bullied and left out of things, but never explains why (and Will is too much of a dude to realize he could ask). And then comes a bombshell: Will is eligible for a surgery, after which, his eyesight would be restored with the help of pure optical contacts, and he decides to go through with it, even at such a risk. He’s so excited, but Cecily seems hesitant, and he doesn’t get why. The idea the book plays with is what could be up with Cecily’s appearance? Why’d she cry when she thought Will was staring at her? Have people been lying to Will about what she looks like? Does it matter what she looks like?

While reading, I drew a few comparisons to Holding Up the Universe. Both play with the idea of appearances and how we can fall for people for who they really are. But while the other book felt a bit more obvious in that regard, somehow this book played out in a more subtle manner, even though it actually seems like it should be the other way around. It felt more innocent and cute, I guess, while Holding Up the Universe is a bit darker and more rooted in trauma. I think the way that I read the two comes into this opinion, though!

I loved Will’s voice. Josh Sundquist is a vlogger and motivational speaker (after surviving cancer and a leg amputation), and has written books about such called We Should Hang Out Sometime and Just Don’t Fall. He’s a happy, loving presence who puts himself out there. So he gets voice. I fell for how Will perceived the world, and learned about what it’s like for blind people in certain regards along the way. He can be a bit snarky at times, and I don’t blame him, but he can also be very sweet and clever. I also adored Cecily and can realize how excited she would be that she could have someone around that can’t see what everyone else sees and judges her for. So even though the characters don’t exactly have any edginess to them, this is the kind of book you read when you feel like you need to hug a book. I had a lot of fun with it, and wished I hadn’t read through it so quickly! I hope Josh continues to write YA fiction.

[I received this book from Hachette Book Group Canada in exchange for an honest review; this did not affect my opinion of the book whatsoever.]

Happy release day to the GORGEOUS new edition of Beauty and the Beast, illustrated by the people behind the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films! You may recognize the book to look a lot like their previous offerings of Peter Pan and The Jungle Book, but always see them in the store as shrink-wrapped. You’ve had no clue what’s inside. They’re shrink-wrapped for a reason: THERE ARE TREASURES IN THERE. Literally maps and trinkets of TREASURE. And if it wasn’t for trusty bloggers and vloggers, you wouldn’t know! So, you’re welcome.

I have been so excited for the new film version of The Beauty and the Beast (omg that new trailer) and I’ve been trying to find a copy of the text to read for a while. Turns out it’s pretty hard to find. NOT ANYMORE! While this does lean on the pricier side, it’s worth it. I don’t really need to say anything else besides *DROOL*, so just keep scrolling.

Are you gasping for air? I am just looking at it. I’m so enjoying reading the story and flipping through all of this beautiful magic! Such wonderful pieces of art and joy inside. This book is definitely a good way to escape the world for a little while.