I cannot believe I read this in one sitting. Although actually I can, because it was a surprising addicting read.
Blaine for the Win is a YA contemporaI cannot believe I read this in one sitting. Although actually I can, because it was a surprising addicting read.
Blaine for the Win is a YA contemporary romance that, honestly, focuses more on internal struggles and growth than romance. And I love that. While we all need a good romance every now and then, books that acknowledge romance as being nice, but not vital to our success as humans, are incredibly important.
Couch weaves a fun, cute story using the threads of friendship, self-worth, and identity (and yes, a bit of adorable romance). While I do believe that the story moved a bit fast— or is this just because I read it in one sitting?— it is the perfect light read for people who love YA novels with sweet friendships and LGBT representation.
Oh! This book comes out tomorrow/today since it is now past midnight!!! Perfect timing- go read it!
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC via Netgalley....more
The Whispering Dark markets itself as a mix of The Raven Cycle and Ninth House, and I think that this is a perfect way to describe the essen3.5 stars.
The Whispering Dark markets itself as a mix of The Raven Cycle and Ninth House, and I think that this is a perfect way to describe the essence of it.
The book follows Delaney Meyers-Petrov, a girl who has been accepted into a prestigious school that teaches its students to walk between worlds. Delaney, or Lane, is deaf, and so her inner struggles are not the same as the ones from fully abled people. This is OwnVoices disability rep, and I am so glad that Andrew is finally able to have a book that represents her, even if that book is her own. I am always so happy when OwnVoices books enter the market, as everyone deserves to see themselves in a character.
The book itself is written beautifully. Andrew has her descriptions nailed down pat; she is wonderful at crafting worlds and getting readers to see, smell, and taste what she does. There were so many lines where I read them and was like "oh yeah, this is going to be in an edit for this book". I love some poetic prose, and The Whispering Dark often had that.
Part of why this isn't five stars for me is the plot. I think that the magic system Andrew created is really cool. However, the overall plot of the book was lacking. Well, half of it. I loved the plot that focused on the love interest, Colton Price. He was a very intriguing character who I always wanted to know more about. He and Lane have a past, and it was great seeing them explore and realize it. The plot involving the 'big bad', however, sort of bored me. The explanation behind the villain's actions seemed incredibly cliché to me and I just wasn't interested. This means that I really wasn't interested in the "final battle". The ending fell flat to me as well, but that could be just because I wasn't interested in a resolution for this plot line.
I think the plot takes off a full star and my lack of attachment to most characters takes off another half star. Like I said previously, I loved reading about Colton. His story and past really interested me. However, I didn't love Colton the way I often love fictional characters. I liked Colton (he is my favorite), and I like Lane, but I didn't love either of them. I didn't love anyone, and as someone who prefers character-driven stories, this lack of love did impact my enjoyment. I do think this is a me problem though, so I encourage everyone to pick up this book and see what they think re: the two main characters. I honestly think that they have the potential to be loved, just not by me. As a side note, the side characters, to me, were very underdeveloped. For instance, I felt like Lane's friends were just there so she wouldn't be a loner in school. They didn't really contribute much to the plot and didn't have arcs of their own.
Overall, though, this book is highly enjoyable. I would describe it as pure, whimsical vibes. There were also some great callbacks to the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, which I loved and thought was so clever. If you like The Raven Cycle, Ninth House, dead boys, dark academia, or just urban fantasy in general, I recommend that you read this book when it comes out in November!
Thank you to Scholastic Canada for providing me with an ARC copy....more
This is such a cute and lovely romcom! And to think I almost DNF'd it!!!! I think that it took me a second to get into because I wasn't a huge fan of This is such a cute and lovely romcom! And to think I almost DNF'd it!!!! I think that it took me a second to get into because I wasn't a huge fan of the main character Wren's friends at first. However, I quickly warmed up to them, and everything became 10x better when the love interest appeared. Derick and Wren are adorable and I loved reading about the progression of their relationship. I also loved Alice, the badass female film director who's film may finally get a second chance.
If you like romcoms, films, and reading about the exploration of identity, then I definitely recommend you pick this one up!...more
The art in this is lovely; I adore the style. More than that, though, I am a really big fan of how thisAn incredibly cute and important graphic novel!
The art in this is lovely; I adore the style. More than that, though, I am a really big fan of how this story played out. It follows a lesbian who joins the cheerleading team and falls in love with the cheerleading captain, her ex-friend and a trans girl. Their dynamic was really fun to read- I love bickering-but-supportive couples.
The pacing in this comic is excellent. Even though graphic novels are typically shorter, I never felt as though things were moving too quickly. The story involves transphobic microaggressions as well as the cheerleading captain's frustration about being treated like a spokesperson for all trans women. I think that the author dealt with these things wonderfully- I would just keep these trigger warnings in mind while reading!
I believe that everyone who is interested in graphic novels, lgbt romance, and sports should read this. It's such a good time.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC!...more
Honestly, I barely understood what was happening in this graphic novel. The first half was fine- nothing special, but at least comprehensib1.5 stars.
Honestly, I barely understood what was happening in this graphic novel. The first half was fine- nothing special, but at least comprehensible. Once the fantastical aspect got properly introduced, that's when the story began to go downhill. Unfortunately, I was bored the entire time. The parts that were supposed to be funny were not so and I did not care about the romance. This isn't bad, just not my thing.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!...more
I saw the cover for this book on NetGalley and was immediately interested (I mean, wlw boarding school romance? Yes!). However, once I saw that it wasI saw the cover for this book on NetGalley and was immediately interested (I mean, wlw boarding school romance? Yes!). However, once I saw that it was published by Wattpad Books- and originally a Wattpad story at that- I was hesitant. I have not had a great experience with Wattpad. I hate to judge entire genres of stories based on stereotypes- for instance, I have read some great fanfiction. Seeing that something is associated with Wattpad, though, always gives me pause. I decided to push through any prejudice and request the ARC anyway. After all, not all Wattpad stories are bad. Right?
I should have trusted my initial instincts with this one.
Never Kiss Your Roommate can only be described as shallow. The characters are incredibly two-dimensional: we have the innocent book nerd, the mean basketball player (who is also Black, which rubbed me the wrong way. I'm white and cannot speak on racism whatsoever, but having the Black girl be a mean basketball player felt... not good), the shy boy who likes detective novels and is magically great with electronics, and the flirty French boy. Jasper, who was from France, was such a caricature. He would randomly throw in French words into the conversation in a way that felt very unnatural. There was also an Italian man who ran a pizza shop and... well, you get the idea.
The two POV characters, Evelyn and Seth, become best friends instantly. The romance in this book was also too sudden for me. One minute Noelle, Evelyn's roommate and love interest, is at her throat, and the next she's comforting Evelyn after she has a nightmare. I regret saying that they reminded me of Simon and Baz. Simon and Baz were roommates as well, yes, but they had build-up. Tension. Chemistry. Things that Evelyn and Noelle did not.
Seth and Jasper, our other couple, bored me as well. Seth got noticeably less POV chapters than Evelyn, which did not help with the build-up to his relationship with Jasper. They fell in 'love' much too quickly and we barely saw any progression in their relationship. Some stupid drama was thrown in that could have been solved with a two minute conversation, but of course nothing is that easy.
This book also tried to throw in a mystery, but failed spectacularly. The Gossip Girl rip-off website that the school had was just ridiculous, and I guessed who was behind it from the get-go. This plot was thrown into the last 70% or so of the book and was resolved in the dumbest way possible.
There was also a random kidnapping thrown in near the end, in true Wattpad fashion. At that point, I was just laughing. I felt like I was 12 again reading Victorious fan fiction on FF.Net. Even some of the dialogue and sentence structure reminded me of bad fan fiction. And this is a published work!
Never Kiss Your Roommate tries to be a cute romance novel that tackles important themes such as sexual assault and internalized homophobia. The keyword here is tries. While these themes are incredibly important, this book does not handle them- or its characters- with as much depth as they deserve.
Thank you very much to the publisher for providing me with this e-ARC....more
I read this in less than a day. If you cannot tell, I really love sports romances.
The Passing Playbook does indeed contain a sports romance (I really want to play soccer/football right now, and I suck at soccer/football) but the story itself is honestly so much more than romance. It centers around fifteen-year-old Spencer Harris, a gay transgender kid who just really wants to play soccer on his school's boys team. As the synopsis for the novel says, "when a discriminatory law forces Spencer's coach to bench him after he discovers the 'F' on Spencer's birth certificate, Spencer has to make a choice: cheer his team on from the sidelines or publicly fight for his right to play, even if it means coming out to everyone - including the guy he's falling for."
The romance is between Spencer and another kid on the soccer team, Justice Cortes. Justice belongs to an incredibly conservative Catholic family- I want to say they're so conservative it's almost unrealistic, but as someone who grew up in the same type of environment, I can say that the beliefs Justice's family held were realistic. However, I do think some parts (i.e. the haunted house) went a bit overboard. This is also just a personal gripe of mine, but I'd love to one day read a gay YA book where Catholicism isn't demonized. As someone who belonged to one, I know that there are countless problems with organized religion- yet, people should be allowed to come to terms both with their sexualities and their religions. They shouldn't have to choose between the two.
Spencer and Justice were cute, although a tad insta-lovey. Spencer had a crush on Justice immediately when he saw him. There was a moment there when I thought that they were going to serve some fun enemies-to-lovers, but Justice was rude to Spencer for all of two minutes before he began to fall for him, too. I enjoyed reading their relationship play out, but I didn't exactly feel that spark I like to feel when reading romance.
The romance was not the only thing that moved too quickly. I believe that this book, while a fun and easy read, would honestly benefit from some extra pages. The conflicts all got resolved so fast that they hardly had time to begin. I would have liked to see some more build-up with both the relationships and the plot-lines.
What I adore about this book is the message that it spreads. For instance, there is one scene where Spencer and his Coach are having a conversation about coming out. The Coach laments that he didn't make sure Spencer knew that the team was a safe space, while Spencer muses that coming out is not a "one-way street" and it shouldn't fall only on one person's shoulders. "Just because the onus always fell on trans and queer people, didn't mean it should." This is so important. It is up to everyone to ensure that they are consciously creating spaces where others can feel safe. More than that, we must be willing to fight not only for ourselves, but for others as well.
Another part I loved is when Spencer is speaking to someone else that is involved with the soccer league. The man remarks that "nobody can say [the league isn't] tolerant of others." Spencer thinks that he "didn't want to be tolerated. You tolerated a bad smell. You tolerated a leaky faucet until it got fixed." It is not enough just to 'tolerate' others- acceptance is key.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and appreciate its existence. I do believe that, while I did not connect much with the characters, it is definitely worth reading upon its release.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC. **NOTE all quotes included in this review are subject to change in the final copy.
I tried. I really did. It got to the point, though, where I was actively dreading picking this up. I hate DNFing books, but I just kept daydDNF @ 31%
I tried. I really did. It got to the point, though, where I was actively dreading picking this up. I hate DNFing books, but I just kept daydreaming about all of the other books that I wanted to read. There's really no point in putting myself through this (even if this book is set in Toronto).
I can see how some people enjoy this book- it isn't horrible. It's just so confusing. More confusing than typical fantasy books. I know that this is a debut, but this is just so info dump-y. Confusion was my constant state whilst reading. So many new characters were constantly being introduced and I could never keep up. My brain felt so scattered the entire time.
Furthermore, I cannot wrap my head around this fantasy world that Shuttleworth has constructed. I think that she would benefit from introducing things more naturally versus simply throwing information at us and praying it sticks.
There were also some writing quirks that irked me in this. I am very anti-capitalization-to-indicate-yelling and this was present a lot, as well as unnecessary parenthesis.
When it came down to it, I really only liked two characters. I cannot even remember their names, though, so I think that says a lot. I'd be open to giving this another go, but I'm just not in the mood for being confused right now.
Thank you very much to Netgalley for the E-ARC....more
This book made me cry and laugh and grieve and swoon. My heart feels both heavier and lighter after reading it, in the best way possible.
There is somThis book made me cry and laugh and grieve and swoon. My heart feels both heavier and lighter after reading it, in the best way possible.
There is something beautiful about TJ Klune's adult novels. I'm not sure how to word it eloquently, so I'll say it like this: They have the best vibes. They make me feel, as the characters in this book say, everything. It's all you could ever want.
Under the Whispering Door deals with grief and the horrible, wonderful things that come with it. Grief is such a difficult topic for me. It's a feeling that sticks with you forever; yet, for something so permanent, I've never learned how to express my feelings toward it. This book has helped me with that. It mourns, but it repairs, as well.
A m/m romance, grief study, comedy, and urban fantasy all wrapped up in one lovey novel. I cannot recommend it enough, especially if you enjoy Klune's other adult novel The House in the Cerulean Sea.
(ARC graciously given to me by the publisher. Thank you and apologies for my late review!)...more
Incredibly short but sweet re-telling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast with some adorable art.
This graphic novel is essentially a direct retellIncredibly short but sweet re-telling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast with some adorable art.
This graphic novel is essentially a direct retelling, though condensed. Nothing new happens- there are no fresh takes. The only thing that differs is Beauty (or as she is usually called, Belle) has two mean sisters, a-la Cinderella. They exist simply to provide a contrast between Beauty's kind nature and their cruel ones.
Something I do love about this graphic novel though is the fact that Beauty and her family are black! I am so happy that black children will be able to read this and find themselves within the story. It makes my heart so happy.
I believe that this story is suited for younger children, ages 3-8. It even includes questions and crafts at the end for them, which is lovely.
Thank you to the publisher for the e-arc via Netgalley....more
This is book is about a lot of things- adolescence, friendship, relationships. Primarily, though, it is about being a person and the weight that comesThis is book is about a lot of things- adolescence, friendship, relationships. Primarily, though, it is about being a person and the weight that comes with this.
I was originally drawn to this book because of Jack Kerouac's name being featured in the title. I am a fan of the Beat generation and cannot resist gravitating towards any mention of them. I went into this book knowing little, which I believe was the right choice.
Jack Kerouac Is Dead to Me follows 15-year-old Jean-Louise (JL), a sophomore in high-school who has a lot on her plate; raising butterflies (which was so interesting and new to read about), an ex(?) best friend, an unstable mother and absent father, and a new relationship with a 19-year-old boy (which was icky to read about, but never romanticized by the author). There is no fast-paced action plot to be found within its pages, yet I was hooked as soon as I read the first sentence. The beautiful and realistic writing drew me right in and I am ever-so-glad that I read this. I have been reminded why I adore contemporaries so much.
Author Gae Polisner deals with many different topics within this book including mental illness, sexual relationships, feelings of loneliness, and the question of what it means to be present in a world that seems hellbent on causing you pain. Everything is handled with the upmost care and, save for a few spelling/grammatical errors which will surely be fixed in the final version, I have no complaints. I am inspired to read more of Polisner's work, as they have a way of writing realistic stories that stick with you even after you have read the final page.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC via Netgalley!...more
After doing the math, my average rating for this book is 3 stars. Overall, this is a fun anthology. Not every story did it for me, but there were a feAfter doing the math, my average rating for this book is 3 stars. Overall, this is a fun anthology. Not every story did it for me, but there were a few that I truly loved.
1. Kick. Push. Coast: 2 stars. This story did not make much of an impact on me. I did not come out of it with any solid opinions. The romance was there, but it was more of an underlying thing, and the characters were not developed. It was just okay.
2. What Happens in the Closet:3 stars. I found this story to be really cute. I adore vampires, so their inclusion did not hurt. I really enjoyed it; however, I found the writing and characters to be a tad juvenile. This does have a slight enemies-to-lovers thing going on though, which I am always a sucker for.
3. Player One Fight: 1 star. This story is so pointless. It's just full of irrelevant video game talk and absolutely no character growth. I did not enjoy this one at all.
4. Lumber Me Mine: 4,5 stars. So adorable!! I adore the characters in this story. The main character especially has amazing character development, which can be rare in short stories. The romance was great and I thoroughly enjoyed this read.
5. Follower: 2.5 stars. The chemistry in regards to the romance is there but the build-up is not. This story is not that interesting, to be honest. I barely remember what it is about looking back.
6. Refresh: 2 stars. The writing here is fine- not great, but fine. However, the characters and their choices really bothered me. I think that things in this story moved much too quickly.
7. Victory Lap: 4.5 stars. I LOVE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MAIN CHARACTER AND HIS FATHER. This relationship completely made the story for me. The romance was also adorable and so was the love interest. Such a wholesome read that made me incredibly happy.
8. A Road of One's Own: 3.5 stars. This story contains some very important themes. However, I found it sort of dry at times, as it focused mainly on the characters going on some road trip which I did not care about.
9. Seditious Teapots: 3.5 stars. Again, this story also has very important themes. Extremely relevant things are discussed and important concepts and ideas are introduced. I'm very glad that this story exists. However, the story itself just was not as gripping as I would have liked.
10. Starcrossed in DC: 4 stars. I love the emphasis this story places on standing up for what is right and being brave. This is a really solid story as well. I adore the romance and wish that I could have more!
11. Floating: 2 stars. Beautifully written, but I did not connect with it at all. It is not written in a traditional way and I think this is what threw me off.
12. The Soft Place: 2 stars. A very sad yet hopeful story. However, I also did not connect with this one, either. I just did not care for the main character's voice much at all.
13. A Pound of Flesh: 4 stars. I LOVE THIS CONCEPT. Incredible idea!! The romance was also something that I love. My only gripe with this story is that the execution could have been a bit better in certain areas.
14. One Spell Too Many: 4 stars. I love the characters in this, especially the love interest. He is adorable! I also adore the little 'twist' with the best friend's love life. Cute and wholesome story.
15. Far From Home: 3 stars. Is the title a Spider-Man (MCU) reference? This story mentions Spider-Man, so I believe so. Anyway, I love the main couple. While I also love aliens, I found myself not caring about the plot points regarding that.
16. The Coronation: 3 stars. Story-wise, this was a tad confusing at times. I love the mythology aspect a lot though and really did enjoy reading it.
17. Once Upon a Seastorm: 3.5 stars. LOVE LOVE LOVE this story's setting and the emphasis on Celtic mythology. Now I want to go to Scotland :(. My gripe with this is that some plot-points fell a bit flat for me. ...more
It is hard to write a review for this without spoiling anything.... I swear I've read fanfictions just like this book. Incredible.
As a huge3.5 stars.
It is hard to write a review for this without spoiling anything.... I swear I've read fanfictions just like this book. Incredible.
As a huge superhero lover, I adored the use of heroes and villains in this! The Extraordinaries was very solid for TJ Klune's first YA book.
The main character, Nick Bell, is a gay high school student with ADHD and an immense love for the real-life superhero that protects his city. Nick exemplifies a great part of this book, which is the representation. I do not have ADHD, so I cannot comment on how good the rep is, but I will say that I have never read a book in which the protagonist had ADHD and so I am grateful to this book for including it in its narrative. Furthermore, all of Nick's best friends are part of the LGBT community; one refers to herself as a 'Black Butch' and I love her so much.
Nick is a very funny character. In fact, there were many instances where this book had me laughing aloud, which does not happen often when I read. However, a lot of jokes did not land for me and came off as extremely cringey. An example of this is when Nick rants about his fanfiction or his obsession with superheroes. It's supposed to be seen as charming, funny, and relatable, but really Nick reads as a 12 year old Tumblr fanatic. He comes off as kind of annoying.
I also do not appreciate many of the jokes Nick makes regarding the police force. To explain, Nick's dad is a cop. While I love how this book focuses on Nick's relationship with his father just as much as any romance, I do not like how his father is a cop, as it makes for a romanticization of the police force as a whole. The narrative of the police being heroes and 'the good guys' is repeatedly shoved down the reader's throats which is not at all needed, especially in times like these. Nick, being an officer's son, makes many tasteless jokes about being a victim of 'police brutality' whenever his father does something that he does not approve of, and so on. Countless jokes like these are made; we even see the police captain joking about locking Nick up illegally. It's not funny at all and really showcases both Nick and the author's privilege.
As for romance, Klune writes it pretty well. I actually began shipping Nick and his best friend Seth early on because their interactions were adorable. I'm a sucker for best friends to lovers and everything else about their relationship. My one gripe is that NICK WAS SO INCREDIBLY DAFT. I understand being oblivious- hell, I've been there. But this thick? It got sort of hard to believe after a certain point.
This book has its twists. While I cannot speak about them at length because I would hate to spoil everything, I will say this: While I absolutely love the twists and what they mean for this book and future ones, I did see all of them coming from a mile away. At this point, I'm not sure if the reader is supposed to predict everything and truly see how daft Nick is through these easy predictions, or if Klune needs to be more sneaky. Whatever it is, I'll admit that knowing the twists did not take away from any of the fun. In fact, it made reading this book more fun, albeit frustrating because oh my god Nick is so oblivious.
And that's just it; this book is fun. I had so much fun reading this that I struggled to put it down.
One last gripe, though. Thank you so much for referencing Harry Osborn, the love of my life, but his name is not 'Osborne'. It's 'Osborn'. Sincerely, A huge Spider-Man fan. P.S. You missed a great moment to reference Gwen Stacy near the end of this book. You know the scene.
If you love superheroes, fun reads, cute lgbt romance, fanfiction-y tropes that know they're tropes, or all of the above, please pick this book up in July!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an electronic arc of this book....more
"You got a nice laugh," I said. "No, I don't." I shook my head. "No, you don't. It's pretty ridiculous, but I like it anyway."
This book is a romance
"You got a nice laugh," I said. "No, I don't." I shook my head. "No, you don't. It's pretty ridiculous, but I like it anyway."
This book is a romance story unfolding upon the backdrop of politics. This, I believe, is Shaun David Hutchinson's first book that does not contain any sort of sci-fi element. It was enjoyable as a contemporary but had many aspects that bothered me.
While I disagree with the fundamental idea of giving both of your main characters a name starting with the same letter (I would be lying if I said I did not confuse (An)Dre and Dean at first), I did like each of their personalities. Dre was the more outgoing and confident of the two, with Dean being reserved and more muted yet entertaining nonetheless. The boys were incredibly different personality-wise and I believe that is why they worked so well romantically. I did like watching their relationship develop.
Politics played a large role in Dre and Dean's relationship. After all, Dean is the son of the Republican presidential candidate and Dre the Democratic's. The two boys often refused to talk about their parent's differing beliefs. While they themselves share some political views- Dean, many times throughout the story, has to remind Dre that he is not in fact his mother's son- they do not agree on everything. Something I find unrealistic about their relationship is the fact that they are able to stay together even though they have beliefs that do not completely align. It is clear that one of the messages in this book is essentially you can love someone and not agree with their decisions. I agree- my grandmother has some pretty iffy beliefs and I love her anyway. But I think that is the point; this idea is more garnered towards familial love than romantic one.
I believe that Dre and Dean's relationship was able to work because neither of them were incessantly political. Dre even says multiple times that he wouldn't really care about politics if his father was not running for president- it is his best friend Mel that really cares. I am the complete opposite and find it frankly offensive that Dre can say this, as in many cases politics and people's livelihoods are interwoven and cannot be separated (ie the right to vote, gay marriage etc). Politics were not as big of an obstacle as I believe they should have been. It is important to recognize that everyone can/should get along to a certain extent, but at some point it becomes too much (for instance, I could not be friends with someone who did not believe that trans people deserve rights).
My own politics aside, it is clear that Hutchinson was aware of the fine line he was walking while writing this book. While The State of Us is more left-leaning, both sides get critiqued (which is good) and no ideas are really out-rightly proclaimed as bad ones (not so good). I think it is important to listen to all ideas, but be able to critique them when they are ones you do not fundamentally agree with. There were many takes in this book that were not great and I genuinely cannot tell if the author agreed with them or not. As someone who does in fact care deeply about politics, this bothers me.
The ending was cute, but also a bit of a cop-out. It all goes back to the thin wire this book is walking, which I think hinders it more than helps. If you are going to write a book predominantly centered around politics, then you should not be afraid to get some people angry. I appreciate the critiques of America's two-party system and the like, yet feel as though Hutchinson was holding back.
Overall, the romance in this book was cute (though predictable, as I did predict a major plot point) and I adored the dynamic between Dre and Dean. The politics don't really align to a specific side and therefore if you are like me and have steadfast political opinions, then you may be more bothered regarding the political aspects of this novel.
I really do hope this author writes more contemporary!
Thank you to the publisher for providing me an eARC through edelweiss....more
I tried with this book, I really did. The truth is however, it put me into a reading slump. I will never be able to move on and read more bDNF @ 34%.
I tried with this book, I really did. The truth is however, it put me into a reading slump. I will never be able to move on and read more books if I don't just give up here.
The thing is, this book isn't objectively bad or anything of the sort. I just found it to be lacking in some departments. For instance, the world-building is very weak in regards to the magic system. This is an urban fantasy, so they are in our world, but magic still exists. I did not understand their magic system at all. Words such as 'the keepers' would be thrown around and I'd have no idea as to what they were going on about.
The characters were a tad too dramatic for my liking. I really only liked one of them- James- as while he got into some trouble, he was interesting (which is more than I can say for the rest of them). Perhaps if the entire book was in his point of view I would be able to look past the confusion and keep reading.
What I do think the author did a good job with is the LGBT representation, especially the 'gay kind in a small rural town' aspect. The reader really gets some insight into the inner turmoil and hardships the main character goes through simply because of his sexuality. It is heartbreaking and realistic; these are the parts that I did enjoy....more
I loved Dante. But I didn't really know what that meant. Where was love supposed to take you?
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is one of my all-time favorite books. I was terrified for the sequel, because in my opinion, this book did not warrant a sequel. Sequels also tend to disappoint... in my opinion, at least. I should have known that there was no need to worry. Benjamin Alire Sáenz has crafted a story that, while not as touching (to me) as the first installment, is beautiful nonetheless.
This is more than a love story. It's a story about growth. I love the continued focus on Ari's discovery of the world. Just because he is with Dante does not mean that he is without problems. Also: He has friends! I adore that, as part of his growth, Ari decided to let people in. One of his friends, Cassandra, became a favorite of mine. Seeing Ari with the girls warmed my heart every time.
This book was necessary to complete Ari's development as a person. It was gorgeous and raw and, at times, difficult. But that's what makes it worth it. Perhaps you can say the same thing about life, too.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book! Everyone, please read it on its release date!...more