Category Archives: Young Adult/Teen 12-18

Review: Not Your #LoveStory by Sonia Hartl

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,
Not Your #LoveStory by Sonia Hartl

Not Your #LoveStory
Sonia Hartl
Page Street Kids
Published September 1, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Not Your #LoveStory

Macy Evans dreams of earning enough income from her YouTube channel, R3ntal Wor1d, to leave her small, Midwestern town. But when she meets a boy named Eric at a baseball game, and accidentally dumps her hotdog in his lap, her disastrous “meet-cute” becomes the topic of a viral thread. Now it’s not loyal subscribers flocking to her channel, it’s Internet trolls. And they aren’t interested in her reviews of VHS tapes—they only care about her relationship with Eric.

Eric is overly eager to stretch out his fifteen minutes of fame, but Macy fears this unwanted attention could sabotage her “real-life” relationships—namely with the shy boy-next-door, Paxton, who she’s actually developing feelings for. Macy knows she should shut the lie down, though she can’t ignore the advertising money, or the spark she gets in her chest whenever someone clicks on her videos. Eric shouldn’t be the only one allowed to reap the viral benefits. But is faking a relationship for clicks and subscribers worth hurting actual people?

My Review

Lots of things about this story are so much fun. Macy is spunky and surrounded by fierce and loyal friends and family members. I liked the circle of quilters her grandmother was part of best of all, I think.

NOT YOUR #LOVESTORY doesn’t shy away from the gross awfulness that the internet can be. Macy becomes obsessed with her social media feeds and the need to boost her income from her YouTube channel even further. As her story with Eric goes viral, the trolls come out in droves, insulting her clothes, her looks, and shaming her for things they assume she did.

Her friends rally around her, but it’s clear they’re not fans of the fake dating relationship with Eric. Like it or not, though, her internet fame has changed things between them, and Macy has to figure out how much of her real life she’s willing to give up for her YouTube stardom.

Underneath the explorations of the cost of social media fame and the pressure of growing up poor in a small town, this is a simple story about a girl falling in love with her best friend.

I think readers who enjoyed WILD AND CROOKED by Leah Thomas will enjoy the small town setting and exploration of harmful assumptions. Fans of Hartl’s first book, HAVE A LITTLE FAITH IN ME, will find another sex-positive, spicy romance layered with social issues.

Lots of things make this a great read, but there is a lot of mature content. Check the content section for details.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 17 up.

Representation
Macy’s best friend is dating another girl.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used throughout the book.

Macy also spends a great deal of time reading through nasty comments about her on her social media streams. There are some really ugly, shaming comments on there.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to two girls kissing and being intimate. Macy’s mom raised her to be proud of her sexuality and reject any attempts at shaming her for wanting to have sex. At the same time, her mom also expects her not to have sex while she’s in high school. (Macy already broke that rule with a past boyfriend.)

There’s also some reference to masturbation while fantasizing about a different sexual experience.

After Macy meets Eric at the baseball game, rumors that she hooked up with him in the bathroom go viral, and Macy’s social media feeds fill with judgment and cruel comments.

Late in the story, Macy shares, in detail, having sex with her boyfriend.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Two boys bully and threaten Macy. She later learns that one boy’s dad brutally beat his mom and sometimes him.

Drug Content
Macy and her friends drink alcohol. Macy’s grandma and her friends smoke pot outside the house. Macy hangs out with them for a few minutes.

Note: I received a free copy of NOT YOUR #LOVESTORY in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

12 YA Books I Can’t Wait to Read Coming September 2020

Lists, News and Fun, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

September at Last!

All the changes this past spring with lock-downs and social distancing and online learning threw me for a loop. It also delayed a lot of the books I’d been looking forward to reading, which meant I spent the summer scrambling to catch up on the ARCs that publishers had sent me. I’m finally seeing a light at the end of the reading tunnel so to speak, and it’s just in time to jump into the amazing line-up of YA books coming out in September 2020.

Happy Book Birthday to September 1st Releases!

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Dr. Yusef Salaam

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: Written by award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five. Tells the story of a Black Muslim teen wrongfully convicted of a crime and his desperate fight for truth and freedom.

Available September 1, 2020 | My Review

Majesty (American Royals #2) by Katharine McGee

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: Three descendants of America’s first king (George Washington) battle for love and power in the sequel to AMERICAN ROYALS.

Available September 1, 2020

Blood & Honey (Serpent & Dove #2) by Shelby Mahurin

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: The stakes are higher, the magic more dangerous, and the players more desperate in this fiery sequel to SERPENT & DOVE.

Available September 1, 2020

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: This Own Voices debut is set during Día de Muertos. Features Latinx magic, a trans main character, and ghost love interest.

Available September 1, 2020

Not Your #LoveStory by Sonia Hartl

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: #PlaneBae meets Gilmore Girls. A rising YouTube star who reviews VHS tapes, fake dating, and a shy boy next door.

Available September 1, 2020 | My Review

More Great YA Books Coming September 2020

The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: High stakes, forbidden love, and an incredible story by the team who gave us the Starbound Trilogy.

Available September 8, 2020

These Vengeful Hearts by Katherine Laurin

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: A secret society that can deal out favors or social ruin and one girl determined to take them down. Looks deliciously suspenseful.

Available September 8, 2020 | My Review

Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: Own Voices retelling of the Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice. Magical realism, music, trauma recovery, and first love.

Available September 15, 2020 | My Review

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know:

Available September 15, 2020

Smash It! by Francina Simone

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: A hot mess heroine who’s ready to stand up instead of back. I’ve heard some conflicting response to this book and mentions of problematic content.

Available September 22, 2020 | My Review

Dear Hero by Hope Bolinger and Alyssa Roat

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: A matching site pairs a hero and villain… who start to fall in love? Sounds really fun and cute.

Available September 28, 2020

Fence: Striking Distance by Sarah Rees Brennan

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

What you need to know: Inspired by the award-nominated comic series by C.S. Pacat and Johanna The Mad. Drama, fencing, bad dates, and adventure. I’m a huge fan of Sarah Rees Brennan, so I’m really excited about this one.

Available September 29, 2020

What are you reading this September?

Have you read any of the books on this list? What new releases are you most excited to check out?

Review: Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

Young Adult/Teen 12-18

Punching the Air
Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
Balzer + Bray
Published September 1, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Punching the Air

From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.

The story that I thought

was my life

didn’t start on the day

I was born

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.

The story that I think

will be my life

starts today

Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?

With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.

My Review

As I read this book, I found myself needing to stop sometimes. I needed to take a moment and let some of the messages sink in rather than kind of buzzing past them to see what happened next.

First, I really liked Amal and especially the descriptions of his artwork. His relationships with his family and friends felt real and complex. His relationship with his mom got me the most, I think. It wasn’t the primary one in the story, but I felt like it was so nuanced and had all these layers of him growing up and her wanting to protect him but not being able to and knowing she couldn’t do that.

Honestly, that kind of layering and the way the characters’ emotions reach out and grab you fills every scene in this book. It’s vivid. It’s powerful. This is the kind of book that keeps you reading until late into the night and you wake up thinking about.

I thought it was powerful that the writers chose to write this story about a boy who isn’t 100% in the wrong place at the wrong time, never done anything wrong.

This isn’t a story about a white kid framing a black kid for something he didn’t do. It’s a story about boys in a fight and the gross imbalance between the way the system treats those boys based on the color of their skin.

At first, I wanted it to be more the former type of story. That makes it more comfortable. There’s a victim. There’s a perpetrator. The lines are completely clear. It’s simple. It’s comfortable.

But that kind of story would ignore the fact that none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. We shouldn’t have to be perfect to be treated fairly and with respect and dignity.

I watched the relationships between Amal and his teachers and counselor in jail. It was heartbreaking how often they seemed like they meant well and yet caused him harm. Or they seemed like they didn’t really see him and weren’t aware of the effect their actions and words had on him. That really hit me hard, because it made me wonder how many times I’ve been that person– saying a well-meaning thing that’s deeply hurtful, or worse, harmful.

PUNCHING THE AIR highlights the fact that the disparities in our justice system don’t begin with an arrest. And they don’t end there, either.

I guess this book made me sit with those disparities and really look at how this hurts people and causes deep damage. The story is so accessible. You don’t have to be an expert to follow or understand. It doesn’t beat you over the head with politics or issues. The authors simply tell a powerful story about boys who made mistakes and how they’re treated afterward.

PUNCHING THE AIR is absolutely worth reading. I think fans of Jacqueline Woodson and Jason Reynolds will really enjoy it, and I think everyone should read it.

Honestly, I feel like it’s really worth reading what Black reviewers are saying about PUNCHING THE AIR because they will be able to speak to things that I simply can’t. Here are a couple that I found really helpful:

Bang Bang Books review of Punching the Air on Goodreads

Literally Black review of Punching the Air

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Amal is Black and Muslim. His uncle is a Christian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used frequently. Some racial slurs.

Romance/Sexual Content
Amal has feelings for a girl who writes him letters. Someone makes a crude comment to him about her.

Spiritual Content
Some reference to Christian and Muslim prayer and traditions.

Violent Content
A few scenes describe fights between Amal and others. In one scene, an officer causes him to fall while his hands and feet are restrained, so that he gets injured.

In more than one scene, Amal’s artwork is destroyed as part of punishing him and devaluing him.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of PUNCHING THE AIR in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Spotlight: Sanctum by Hannah McBride

News and Fun, Paranormal, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Here’s some fun bookish news… if you’re a long-time Story Sanctuary reader, you may remember that I used to participate in Irish Banana Book Tours. I loved working with Irish Banana coordinator Hannah McBride, so when she announced she was releasing a book, I knew it was going to be something to talk about here! Today I’m sharing some of the fun and amazing details about her debut novel, Sanctum. It’s one I’m eager to check out!

Sanctum
Hannah McBride
Available August 21, 2020

Amazon | Goodreads

About Sanctum

A survivor on the run

After refusing the laws of her sadistic pack, Skye Markham barely escapes with her life, seeking sanctuary with the feared Blackwater pack. Hunted by her former Alpha and his soldiers, she’s determined to create a life even though she knows they will come for her.

An alpha with a pack to protect

As the next alpha in line, Remy Holt has spent years guarding the Blackwater pack and his family from those who seek to seize control and destroy them. The last thing he needs or wants is Skye Markham and the dangers she brings with her adding to the stress on his pack, but his wolf has a different opinion. He wants her, and after one moment that shouldn’t have been possible, he knows he’ll never be able to let her go.

A bond unlike any other

Skye thought she was finally safe, but as her bond with Remy strengthens, the shifter world starts to break apart at the seams. Missing shifters, a dying population, and pack wars are all causing their sanctuary to crumble around them, and Skye is trapped in the middle of it all. Someone is out to destroy the pack and if they succeed, there will bring down everything Remy has sought to protect and for Skye… maybe there is no such thing as a sanctuary.

*SANCTUM is the first book in the Blackwater Pack series. Possible trigger warnings: abuse, violence, language, and bullying.

About Author Hannah McBride

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter |Goodreads

Hannah McBride has been many things in her life – a restaurant manager, a clinical research coordinator, a dreamer, a makeup brand ambassador, an event coordinator, a blogger, and more. But at heart, she’s always been a writer, and in 2020 she decided to make it official with her first release, SANCTUM. 

An Excerpt from Sanctum

He shifted towards me. “This is all new to me, too, Skye.”

A sobering thought crossed my mind. The one that had been plaguing me since the woods. “Do you want this, Remy?”

The corner of his mouth hitched up for a second as he looked at me. Slowly, he raised a hand, tracing the curve of my jaw. I shivered, remembering the feel of his hands stroking when I was a wolf.

This was so much better.

He inched even closer. His breath, minty and warm, fanned over my face. His eyes tracked the movements of his fingers hungrily.

“Yeah,” he answered roughly, thickly. “I want this. I want you.” He dipped his head and covered my mouth with his.

As far as first kisses went, I was pretty sure this was one for the record books. 

Fire ignited in me the second Remy’s lips touched mine, soft but demanding all at once. His hands settled on my hips, pulling me closer. The smell of him from earlier in the evening, pine and soap and something that was entirely Remy, filled my senses. 

I was going to combust in the most exquisite ways.

His large hands almost spanned my waist, his fingers flexing against the soft material of my yoga pants. His tongue teased the seam of my lips until I opened my mouth on a gasp, letting him in.

I groaned as his tongue stroked mine, one hand sliding from my waist up my spine.

My hands had been clenched into fists on his chest, the fabric of his t-shirt bunched in my grip. I relaxed my hold now, letting my hands slide over the hard muscle and up around his neck, pressing my chest flush against his.

Now Remy groaned, changing the angle of his head to deepen the kiss.

Flames licked through my blood, and I was sure I was going to combust any second.

I was one hundred percent okay with death by kissing.

Review: Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

Where Dreams Descend (Kingdom of Cards #1)
Janella Angeles
Wednesday Books
Published August 25, 2020

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Where Dreams Descend

In a city covered in ice and ruin, a group of magicians face off in a daring game of magical feats to find the next headliner of the Conquering Circus, only to find themselves under the threat of an unseen danger striking behind the scenes.

As each act becomes more and more risky and the number of missing magicians piles up, three are forced to reckon with their secrets before the darkness comes for them next.

The Star: Kallia, a powerful showgirl out to prove she’s the best no matter the cost

The Master: Jack, the enigmatic keeper of the club, and more than one lie told

The Magician: Demarco, the brooding judge with a dark past he can no longer hide.

My Review

This might be the best book I’ve read all year. I feel like I keep saying that, but honestly, there have been so many great books this year! WHERE DREAMS DESCEND is definitely near if not at the top of my list.

I loved Kallia. She’s a take no prisoners, driven, smart, savvy lady who never gives up. I loved her relationship with Aaros, the thief she takes under her wing to be her magician’s assistant in the competition. And of course, I loved DeMarco, too. (Fun fact– DeMarco was my great-grandmother’s name.)

This story hit so many perfect notes for me. The moral dilemmas. The mysterious dangers lurking throughout the competition and some characters’ pasts. The forbidden romance. The angsty magicians. The strong sisterhood of performers coming together to support one another.

The beginning started out a little bit slow for me, but once the competition began, I was completely hooked. I couldn’t wait to read every page, and I dreaded reaching the final chapter, too, because then it would be over.

WHERE DREAMS DESCEND is one of those books I’m going to want to read again like next week just to savor it all over again. I feel like I can’t even say enough how much I loved it. Seriously, if you can only buy one more book this year, pick this one!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Representation
Kallia has brown skin and curly hair.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Profanity used somewhat frequently. (Approximately 35 times.)

Romance/Sexual Content
Intense kissing and desire between a man and woman. Some sensual dancing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters possess magic. At least one character is not human/mortal. Shadowy shapes seem to pursue some characters, possibly intending harm.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. One scene shows a monster. In another scene, characters are showered with broken glass.

Drug Content
Some scenes show characters drinking alcohol at social dinners and a bar.

Note: I received a free copy of WHERE DREAMS DESCEND in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

About Janella Angeles

Twitter | Instagram | Website

JANELLA ANGELES is a Filipino-American author who got her start in writing through consuming glorious amounts of fanfiction at a young age—which eventually led to penning a few of her own, and later on, creating original stories from her imagination. A lifelong lover of books, she’s lucky enough to be working in the business of publishing them on top of writing them. She currently resides in Massachusetts, where she’s most likely to be found listening to musicals on repeat and daydreaming too much for her own good. Where Dreams Descend is her first book.

Review: Vote!: Women’s Fight for Access to the Ballot Box by Coral Celeste Frazer

Book Review and Content, Nonfiction, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Vote!: Women’s Fight for Access to the Ballot Box
Coral Celeste Frazer
Twenty-first Century Books
Published August 6, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Vote!: Women’s Fight for Access to the Ballot Box

August 18, 2020, marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibited states and the US government from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex. See how the 70-year-long fight for women’s suffrage was hard won by leaders such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Carrie Chapman Catt and others.

Learn how their success led into the civil rights and feminist movements of the mid- and late twentieth century, as well as today’s #MeToo, #YesAllWomen, and Black Lives Matter movements. In the face of voter ID laws, voter purges, gerrymandering, and other restrictions, Americans continue to fight for equality in voting rights.

My Review

Reading this book, right now, as Federal officers are deployed in Portland and potentially other places (I am writing this a few weeks before it goes live, so things may have changed) was really strange.

I didn’t know a lot about the fight for women to vote before I’d read this book. Here are some of the things I learned that stood out most:

  • Women’s rights and Black rights activists sometimes worked together and sometimes worked against each other. I want to know a lot more about the dialogue between the two groups and people who devoted themselves to one cause at the expense of the other or in opposition to the other.
  • Police attacked women’s rights protestors. I don’t know what I imagined those protests looked like, but there was violence.
  • The book also points out and spends several chapters talking about the rights of Black and POC women and the fight for their right to vote as well. I hadn’t deeply thought of those as two separate battles before, which really just points up more of my ignorance, honestly.

One of the things I love about this book is that it’s packed with personal stories of the women involved in women’s rights activism. I loved learning the names and approaches of these women. Lucy Stone and Fannie Lou Hamer stand out to me the most. I’d love to learn more about both of them.

August 18 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. If you don’t know a lot about the struggle that preceded it, I recommend this book as a great introduction to the topic.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Representation
Follows the stories of women’s rights and civil rights activists.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
References to Christian faith as a motivator for some activists.

Violent Content
References to lynchings. Descriptions of police brutality against protestors. Descriptions of force-feeding prisoners who were on hunger strikes.

Drug Content
References to women’s rights groups that also opposed drinking alcohol and protested in front of bars and saloons.

Note: I received a free copy of VOTE!: WOMEN’S FIGHT FOR ACCESS TO THE BALLOT BOX in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.