Category Archives: Young Adult/Teen 12-18

Review: Focus. Click. Wind. by Amanda West Lewis

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Focus. Click. Wind. by Amanda West Lewis

Focus. Click. Wind.
Amanda West Lewis
House of Anansi
Published August 1, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Focus. Click. Wind.

What if your country is involved in an unjust war, and you’ve lost trust in your own government?

It’s 1968, and the Vietnam War has brought new urgency to the life of Billie Taylor, a seventeen-year-old aspiring photojournalist. Billie is no stranger to risky situations, but when she attends a student protest at Columbia University with her college boyfriend, and the US is caught up in violent political upheaval, her mother decides to move the two of them to Canada.

Furious at being dragged away from her beloved New York City to live in a backwater called Toronto, Billie doesn’t take her exile lightly. As her mother opens their home to draft evaders and deserters, Billie’s activism grows in new ways. She discovers an underground network of political protesters and like minds in a radical group based in Rochdale College, the world’s first “free” university. And the stakes rise when she is exposed to horrific images from Vietnam of the victims of Agent Orange – a chemical being secretly manufactured in a small town just north of Toronto.

My Review

For some reason when I first picked up this book, I mistook it for nonfiction. I’m not sure if I skimmed the cover copy and author bio so quickly that the two merged together (there are similar elements in them)? I don’t know. At any rate, sometime during my reading, I realized it was a novel about the Vietnam War resistance movement in the 1960s.

This is a time period that I don’t know a lot about. I used to blame this on my history classes in school, because we never went beyond World War II and some light information about the Civil Rights movement during February. I’m not old enough for that to make any sense, but I do live in Florida, so there ya go, I guess.

Anyway, so I read this novel without a strong understanding of the history to which it refers. I’ve known a few veterans of the Vietnam War, and it did make me think of things they’ve endured or talked about because of the war. One believes his children’s health issues stem from his exposure to Agent Orange. Two more were addicted to drugs and alcohol following their military service. So, I’ve definitely seen some of the effects mentioned in the book.

The writing is super compelling. The story is told in present tense, and it begins with the main character, Billie, at a student protest at Columbia. I loved the way she uses her photographs to tell the story of what she’s experiencing. I thought the descriptions of her taking photographs and developing them were very engaging.

Billie has some memories of her father using drugs and being involved in a drug deal that goes badly. She remembers hiding under a table with her mother while someone has a gun. Her mom responds to this by deciding she will never allow another person who uses drugs to live in her house. As Billie forms connections to others who protest the Vietnam War, she meets a lot of people who use drugs.

Though this is set in the 60s and the prevalent use of drugs, especially marijuana, seems realistic, I found myself wishing that the author explored some of the nuances of addiction as a disorder and maybe at least questioned her mom’s hardline position. The story really isn’t about that issue, though, and the author leaves that territory unexplored.

All in all, I think the writing was spectacular. It’s got some mature content which won’t be suitable for every reader. I’ve detailed that below.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 17 up.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme language used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
A couple of scenes show explicit sex between boy and girl. In one scene, two boys try to convince a girl to have sex with them and another girl. She refuses.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
When Billie was a child, her dad was involved in a drug deal that went awry. She and her mother hid under a table while guns and conflict happened. Descriptions of warfare and the devastation caused by Agent Orange.

Drug Content
Characters drink alcohol and smoke a lot of weed. The story briefly states that a lot of soldiers become addicted to heroin because the government is handing it out to them to help them deal with the horrors of war.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of FOCUS. CLICK. WIND. in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

Review: The Loudest Silence by Sydney Langford

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The Loudest Silence
Sydney Langford
Holiday House
Published July 30, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Loudest Silence

Two disabled, queer teens find belonging in this poignant platonic love story about singing, signing, and solidarity.

CASEY KOWALSKI once dreamed of becoming a professional singer. Then the universe threw her a life-altering curveball— sudden, permanent, and profound hearing loss—just before her family’s move from Portland to Miami. Now, she’s learning to navigate the world as a Deaf-Hard of Hearing person while trying to conceal her hearing loss from her new schoolmates.

HAYDEN GONZÁLEZ-ROSSI is also keeping secrets. Three generations of González men have risen to stardom on the soccer field, and Hayden knows his family expects him to follow in their footsteps, but he wants to quit soccer and pursue a career on Broadway. If only his Generalized Anxiety Disorder didn’t send him into a debilitating spiral over the thought of telling the truth.

Casey and Hayden are both determined to hide who they really are. But when they cross paths at school, they bond over their shared love of music and their mutual feeling that they don’t belong, and the secrets come spilling out. Their friendship is the beating heart of this dual-perspective story featuring thoughtful disability representation, nuanced queer identities, and a lovably quirky supporting cast.

My Review

This is a debut?! I need more books by this author.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s got so many great things. A playful, supportive friend group. Vulnerable, frank explorations of grief, sudden hearing loss, and anxiety. Music. Sign language. A celebration of platonic love (with a little romantic love on the side). I love it.

The story follows Hayden and Casey’s points of view, usually in alternating chapters. I found both of them to be great characters and so easy to root for. Hayden is the sweetest. Casey has harder edges, and she’s a loyal friend if you can get past her walls.

An author’s note explains how Langford uses ASL and SimCom (simultaneous communication, or using sign language and speaking simultaneously) in the text, which helped get me oriented to the narrative. It’s a little different than I’ve seen in other books, which is totally okay. I appreciated knowing when someone was signing and talking versus just signing or talking– it was also an important distinction in the story for plot reasons, so it helped to have that distinction clear.

The book seriously has so many things to love about it. The sweet romance. The unapologetic ace rep. The spotlight on multiple cultures within one family. It’s a great book. If you love books about music, musicians or fabulous friend groups, you do not want to miss The Loudest Silence.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Hayden is Cuban/Italian American and asexual. Casey is Deaf-Hard-of-hearing. Other characters are Latine and queer.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One F-bomb. Strong profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. At one point, the characters assume two boys are dating.

Spiritual Content
One character has a cross necklace he rubs his thumb on when he’s nervous. Another character gives someone a necklace with a pendant showing a saint on it.

Violent Content
Descriptions of anxiety and panic attacks. Ableist behavior.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield

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Time and Time Again
Chatham Greenfield
Bloomsbury
Published July 23, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Time and Time Again

Phoebe Mendel’s day is never ending—literally.

On August 6th, she woke up to find herself stuck in a time loop. And for nearly a month of August 6ths since, Phoebe has relived the same day: pancakes with Mom in the morning, Scrabble with Dad in the afternoon, and constant research into how to reach tomorrow and make it to her appointment with a doctor who may actually take her IBS seriously. Everything is exactly, agonizingly the same.

That is, until the most mundane car crash ever sends Phoebe’s childhood crush Jess crashing into the time loop.

Now also stuck, Jess convinces Phoebe to break out of her routine and take advantage of their consequence-free days to have fun. From splurging on concert tickets, to enacting (mostly) harmless revenge, to all-night road trips, Jess pulls Phoebe further and further out of her comfort zone—and deeper in love with them. But the more Phoebe falls for Jess, the more she worries about what’s on the other side of the time loop. What if Jess is only giving her the time of day because they’re trapped with no other options? What if Phoebe’s new doctor dismisses her chronic pain? And perhaps worst of all: What if she never gets the chance to find out?

My Review

A time loop romance is definitely not something I thought I needed in my life, and I will fully and freely admit I was wrong. Ha! I had so much fun reading this book. Phoebe and Jess make such a great pair, whether they’re getting up to mischief, reconnecting as friends, or exploring new territory altogether.

I also enjoyed both of Phoebe’s parents. They have flaws, but they show up for her in really important ways, sometimes ways that surprise even Phoebe. I also liked Jess’s relationship with her brother, Zahir, and his bandmates.

The time loop setup is great. It hits enough of the mundane stuff to give us a feel for how exhausted Phoebe is from reliving the same day over and over, but somehow, we continue to learn new things about her and her family, even in moments that have become so familiar, they feel like a joke we’re in on.

I liked that the resolution felt like something the characters had to work for, too. I’ve read books where the main character just has to WANT the solution badly enough in order to have it, and I don’t generally find those very satisfying. This one, because there was some real work involved, felt like it had a truly earned ending.

Both Jess and Phoebe have chronic illnesses. Jess’s is immediately visible because of her use of mobility aids, but Phoebe’s is no less debilitating despite being invisible. I liked that the author chose to include both a visible and an invisible disability in one book.

Readers looking to fit another fun romance into their summer reading will not want to miss this sweet, time-bending story.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Phoebe is plus-sized and chronically ill. Jess is nonbinary and has chronic pain. Both are lesbians and Jewish.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some F-bombs used throughout. Other profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a girl and nonbinary person. In one scene, two characters remove their shirts and give and receive consent to have sex. (Intercourse happens off-scene.)

Spiritual Content
References to attending services and celebrating Jewish and Christian holidays.

Violent Content
A girl is hit by a car (no serious injuries.) References to fat-phobic comments. Descriptions of abdominal pain due to IBS.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky by Josh Galarza

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The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky
Josh Galarza
Henry Holt & Co.
Published July 23, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky

Perfect for fans of Mark Oshiro and Adam Silvera comes a fiercely funny and hopeful story of one boy’s attempts to keep everything under control while life has other plans.

Ever since cancer invaded his adoptive mother’s life, Brett feels like he’s losing everything, most of all control. To cope, Brett fuels all of his anxieties into epic fantasies, including his intergalactic Kid Condor comic book series, which features food constellations and characters not unlike those in his own life.

But lately Brett’s grip on reality has started to lose its hold. The fictions he’s been telling himself – about his unattractive body, the feeling that he’s a burden to his best friend, that he’s too messed up to be loved – have consumed him completely, and Brett will do anything to forget about the cosmic-sized hole in his chest, even if it’s unhealthy.

But when Brett’s journal and deepest insecurities are posted online for the whole school to see, Brett realizes he can no longer avoid the painful truths of his real-life narrative. As his eating disorder escalates, Brett must be honest with the people closest to him, including his new and fierce friend Mallory who seems to know more about Brett’s issues than he does. With their support, he just might find the courage to face the toughest reality of all.

My Review

This is an uncomfortable read. I don’t say that as a bad thing. One of the most important things literature can do is give us safe spaces to experience discomfort. By safe, I don’t mean that reading can’t be triggering– I know it can. Reading a book about physical danger is very different from experiencing that physical danger. (See content warnings below for possible triggers. Take care where needed.)

The story begins with Brett’s drunk-n-drive-thru routine. He’s been drinking the vodka he stashed in his room at his old house, and an Uber driver takes him through several drive-thru lines before dropping him off at one of his favorite scenic overlooks.

As the story progresses, we learn that Brett’s adoptive mom was diagnosed with cancer. He’s moved to his best friend’s house, and his best friend’s dad is now his guardian. Brett seems to be in a freefall. He’s trying to understand why he eats so much, but he’s so consumed with shame about it that he almost can’t even go there at all. It’s heartbreaking.

About halfway through the book, he becomes friends with a girl he’s heard people make fun of for years. She’s further ahead on her self-acceptance journey and takes him under her wing. There’s a little bit of a manic-pixie-dream-girl feel to her character, though the story subverts some parts of the stereotype. She’s a sort of all-knowing, wiser, chaotic artist who pulls Brett along and shows him a different way to think about his body.

Of course, things get much worse before they get better, and we go to those dark places with Brett, feeling his deep hurts and the weight of his shame. This is a really emotional book, but there’s so much heart on every page. It’s hard to believe this is a debut.

Older fans of Jarrett Lerner’s A Work in Progress or books that explore trauma, like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, will find this a gripping read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Brett is Mexican American (the just right word he uses is mestizo). Another character is queer.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Lots of profanity. References to racist comments. Fatphobic comments.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brett ogles a girl and draws a sexy cartoon character based on her body. (He realizes this is wrong.) A girl undresses in front of Brett while doing an art project involving making prints of her body.

Spiritual Content
The mythic stories in Brett’s life that most impact him are the ones he wrote himself about a superhero and constellations in the sky. The constellation that represents his hero is called the Great Cool Ranch Dorito.

Violent Content
Some scenes explicitly show Brett experiencing symptoms of disordered eating, such as binging and purging. Other characters confess to anorexia and bulimia. Two boys break into school after hours to distribute copies of an anonymous comic book. Two boys fight each other. A boy is injured when a trampoline spring breaks.

Drug Content
Brett drinks vodka, which he keeps hidden in his room in his old house.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Asking for a Friend by Kara H. L. Chen

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Asking for a Friend
Kara H. L. Chen
Quill Tree Books
Published July 23, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Asking for a Friend

This charming YA rom-com follows a strong-willed, ambitious teen as she teams up with her childhood frenemy to start a dating-advice column, perfect for fans of Emma Lord and Gloria Chao.

Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things:

1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love.

2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition.

When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior. Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview. With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.

My Review

There’s nothing like reading a great rom-com when you need an escape from the world. Reading this book cheered me up quite a bit. It does wrestle with some big issues as Juliana grapples with the pressure to win the AABC competition, which is her father’s legacy. Her mom expects her to partner with the boy she thinks is the smartest and hardest working, but when he drops Juliana as a partner, she has to improvise a new plan.

It took me a long time to realize that Juliana and Garrett had a history. I think it was vaguely alluded to when she decides to work with him, but I assumed they went to school together or knew each other from community events. I didn’t realize there was more to it until much later in the book.

The conflict between Juliana’s older sister and her mom is really sad, especially since they’ve already lost her dad. The book does a great job contextualizing Juliana and her mom’s choices. I never felt like I didn’t understand why they did what they did, even if I wished they did something different.

The slow-burn romance kept me reading and, when I wasn’t reading, thinking about the story. Garrett is a great character, and I love the way he encourages Juliana without trying to control her.

All in all, this is a fun, light romance. Readers who enjoyed Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other) by Livia Blackburne or The Charmed List by Julie Abe will like this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Juliana and many other characters are Taiwanese Americans.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
About a half-dozen instances of profanity in the book.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Juliana’s older sister got pregnant unexpectedly while in college and dropped out.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Juliana’s mom disowned her sister after finding out about her pregnancy. Juliana’s dad passed away from cancer a few years before the story begins.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Joined at the Joints Marissa Eller

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Joined at the Joints
Marissa Eller
Holiday House
Published July 2, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Joined at the Joints

When baking-obsessed Ivy meets a super-hot boy who shares her rare diagnosis, sparks fly outside of the kitchen for the first time in her life!

Chronically ill seventeen-year-old Ivy has stayed in watching the Food Network all summer—pies are better than people, and they don’t trigger her social anxiety. So when her (also) chronically ill mom and sister cook up a plan to get Ivy out of the house and into a support group, Ivy doesn’t expect to say more than a few words.

And she certainly doesn’t expect Grant. Grant is CUTE: class-clown cute, perfectly-messy-hair cute, will-always-text-you-back cute. There’s an instant connection between them. He has the same diagnosis as her–juvenille rheumatoid arthritis–and he actually understands Ivy’s world.

But just because he understands Ivy’s pain doesn’t mean he can take it away. And she wishes he could—because it’s getting worse. Ivy has always tried her best to appear pain-free, but between treatment plans, symptom management, and struggling with medical self-advocacy, being sick feels more and more difficult. Will Ivy’s delicious new romance pan out? Can she keep up the façade, for him and for the world… or should she be brave and let it go?

Marissa Eller serves up a sweet, satisfying romcom that tackles the realities of chronic illness—and coming-of-age milestones from friend breakups to first kisses—with wry humor, tons of heart, and a huge helping of honesty. Nuanced, poignant, and deeply enjoyable, readers will fall for Eller’s voice in this compelling debut that offers all the right ingredients.

My Review

This is such a sweet book. I loved that because both characters understand rheumatoid arthritis, there’s not a lot of one character educating the other. Both Ivy and Grant have some similarities and differences in their experiences, and they share enough common ground to offer support to one another when it’s needed.

Ivy is a great character. I love stories about baking or cooking, so the scenes in which she prepares food were great. When a character’s love language is food, I find it easy to connect with them. I also liked her relationship with her sister, Caroline. They look out for one another but give each other space and autonomy, too. They have a great balance. The descriptions of their younger brother, Ethan, made me laugh, too. He felt like such an energetic character, even when he was just in the periphery of a scene.

The relationship between Grant and Ivy is great, too. They like each other from the start, but it didn’t feel too insta-love-y to me. Maybe because Ivy is so shy and takes so long to admit that she likes him and that he seems to like her, too. I liked the progression of the relationship and how they leaned on one another.

In terms of a summer romance, Joined at the Joints hits all the right notes. It’s sweet, thoughtful, and full of fun. Definitely a good one for a weekend read.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Ivy and Grant have juvenile idiopathic arthritis (rheumatoid arthritis). Ivy also has social anxiety. Ivy’s sister, Caroline, has celiac disease. Her mom has lupus. Caroline and Ivy join a support group for teens with chronic illnesses.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
F-bombs used infrequently. Strong profanity used somewhat infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A baseball strikes a character, leaving an ugly bruise. Ivy experiences growing pain in her joints that becomes increasingly debilitating. Some references to ableist comments.

Drug Content
Just the drugs prescribed by Ivy’s doctor.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.