Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me--"I'm just willing what I'm feeling to be true. I'm willing myself to believe this is real."

Title: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me

Author: Mariko Tamaki; Illustrations by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell


LGBTQ+ Representation: Main and supporting characters are lesbians and background characters are queer


Content Waring: Abortion


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Freddy is madly in love with her girlfriend, Laura, but Laura (who is popular, funny, cute, thoughtless, and MEAN) keeps breaking up with her. Freddy's friends can't understand why she keeps going back to Laura Dean, and their on-again, off-again relationship nearly causes Freddy to lose her best friend.


What I think (in 250 words or fewer): Laura Dean is one of those books that I can see non-YA readers (or those who prefer their books to be moralistic in content) scoffing at. Teenage Freddy is besotted with Laura, who is just the WORST. I strongly identify with Rainbow Rowell's blurb on the back of the book:

So I got to meet Bill Konigsberg!

So I got to meet Bill Konigsberg at the Greensboro Bound 2019 Literary Festival a couple of days ago. I was so excited to hear him talk about The Music of What Happens and answer some audience questions. 

He was taller in person, but everyone seems taller in person for me:

Why thank you, I also think we're adorable.

If you are scratching your head and saying "Who's that?" then for shame. Read the following reviews and then come back to this post:

• The Music of What Happens
• The Porcupine of Truth, Part 1 and Part 2
• Out of the Pocket
• Honestly, Ben
• Openly Straight

Dress Codes for Small Towns--"There is more than one way to add color to the world. More than one way to crown a queen"

Title: Dress Codes for Small Towns

Author:  Courtney Stevens


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): After Billie and her group of friends nearly burn down their church, Billie is determined to prove that she is not a bad girl and that her father deserves to remain the church's minister. At the same time, Big T, the town's sponsor of the annual Harvest festival, dies.  Billie and her friends work to rise above prejudice and work to save the festival, while exploring their own identities and love interests along the way.


What I think: Dress Codes was one of those books that I thought was going to be about something else entirely.  I thought the plot, even as I was reading, was going to go something like this:

1. Tomboy-ish girl (Billie, who might be gay) experiences prejudice from small town rednecks
2. Boy-who-wears-makeup (Davey, who might be gay) also experiences prejudice
3. They both tell off the hypocritical church people
4. Their friends and family members, who are "set in their small-town ways" reject them, and
5. They move away to a big city to live glamorous lives (also come out of their respective closets)

I've read this story before, I thought smugly.

Lady Midnight--"The Law is annoying, but it is also flexible"

Title: Lady Midnight, Book #1 of The Dark Artifices

Author: Cassandra Clare


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Emma Carstairs, with the help of her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, is determined to find out who killed her parents, but discover a demon plot in Los Angeles instead.  Julian is protecting his uncle Arthur and struggling to keep his siblings together, while trying to deny his love for Emma, which has gone far beyond what one should feel for his parabatai.  Julian's brother Mark returns, while a group within the Clave fights for control.


What I think: As I wrote in a previous review, I was slow to warm-up to Cassandra Clare, but by the time I read City of Heavenly Fire, I was completely hooked.  Clare's books just keep getting better and better, and wow, I really like Lady Midnight and its sequel, Lord of Shadows.  But right now, I'm going to go over some of my favorite aspects of Lady Midnight:

Ramona Blue--"Not a free ticket out of queer town"

Title:  Ramona Blue

Author: Julie Murphy


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Ramona lives in Eulogy, a small southern Mississippi town known for its beach and vacation rentals. She, her father, and her pregnant sister Hattie live in a small trailer and can barely make ends meet. When Ramona's childhood friend Freddie moves into town, Ramona and he have a romantic relationship, which confuses Ramona because she identifies as a lesbian. Plus, Ramona struggles with what she wants to do after graduation--will her family survive without her? 


What I think (in 250 words or fewer):  I usually don't read any other reviews of a book until I've written my own, but I made an exception when I discovered so many mixed reviews of Ramona Blue. I think it's too far to say that the book is lesbophobic, biphobic, and acephobic, and even though I agree that it's insightful and moving, I didn't think it was perfect.

Honestly Ben--"With a friend to call my own, I'll never be alone"

Title: Honestly Ben

Author:  Bill Konigsberg


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Ben is moving on after last semester.  He's excelling at schoolwork, acting as the captain of the baseball team, and starting a relationship with Hannah, a cool quirky girl he met in the library.  He is even awarded a prestigious scholarship (if he can keep his grade up in calculus!).  But Ben is not sure that he has all the answers, and cannot stop thinking about and missing the close friendship he had with Rafe.


What I think (in 250 words or fewer):  The tagline is a line from Michael Jackson's "Ben," which has been  recorded   by   lots   of people.  The review contains spoilers, but I tried to be as vague as possible.

After the events in Openly Straight, Ben finds himself without any close friends. Sure, he hangs out with people from the baseball team, but they are not the close friendship he had with Rafe, whom he can't stop thinking about. 

Huntress--"I love the world, romance, heroine's quest, and writing style"

Title: Huntress

Author: Malinda Lo (I am doing an in-depth author study on Malinda Lo as a final paper for a class, and this is the fifth of five fiction novels I am reviewing)


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Huntress is set in the same Asian-inspired fantasy world as Ash.  A summons has arrived for the king by the Fairy Queen. Xi, a fae race, have been spotted in the human world, violating a centuries-old treaty.  Taisin, a gifted sage academy student, and Kaede, the councilor's daughter, are among the group appointed to visit the queen, but Taisin is haunted by visions of falling in love with Kaede and having to leave her behind. 


What I think (in 250 words or fewer):  Huntress is very enjoyable as a stand-alone book, and I wish I had read it before Ash, which is a book that didn't really work for me.

In some ways, Huntress is a typical hero-on-a-quest story in the style of Joseph Campbell.  I'm a fan of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings so this worked well for me; I actually have written the Star-Wars-as-a-hero's-journey research paper before and could do the same for Huntress. 

At the Edge of the Universe--"Like I give a steaming corn-filled pile what those inbred sociopaths say about me"

Title: At the Edge of the Universe

 Author: Shaun David Hutchinson

What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Weird things are happening in Ozzie's world.  First, Tommy, Ozzie's best friend and boyfriend, has disappeared--from the world and from everyone's memories but Ozzie's. Ozzie then makes a startling discovery:  the universe is shrinking, and he's the only one who realizes it. Meanwhile, Ozzie's parents are divorcing, and Ozzie begins to have feelings for his new physics lab partner, Calvin, who is keeping a dangerous secret.


What I think (in 250 words or fewer): First, let's talk characters. Dustin, is the stoner valedictorian, who has a shot at a scholarship.  Lua, a gender-fluid character, plays in a band and is one of my favorite YA characters ever (seriously, Hutchinson? Write a book from Lua's POV, please).

Ash--"Not what I was hoping for"

Title: Ash

Author: Malinda Lo (I am doing an in-depth author study on Malinda Lo as a final paper for a class, and this is the first of her five fiction novels I am planning to review)


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Set in a magical, Asian-inspired fantasy world, Ash is re-telling of Cinderella, in which the title character is torn between a bargain she makes with a cruel, beautiful fairy and the king's huntress, Kaisa, with whom Ash has fallen in love. 


What I think (in 250 words or fewer): I had high expectations for Ash, which was billed as "a lesbian re-telling of Cinderella," nominated for several awards, and has appeared on lists of best YA books.  Cinder and Ella Enchanted, two re-tellings of Cinderella, are among my favorite books. I figured Ash would be a win-win, but it was not what I was hoping for.