Tag Archives: first love

Review: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Poetry, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , ,
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo
HarperTeen
Published March 6, 2018

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Poet X

Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth.

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about.

With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

My Review

I’ve had a copy of this book for years, and somehow I hadn’t managed to read it before. When my youngest was little, I read WITH THE FIRE ON HIGH by Elizabeth Acevedo, and I loved the depth and descriptions in the book. Since then, I’ve been a huge fan of this author. So. Finally I read her award-winning, debut novel in verse.

And I loved it.

Which I suppose should not be a surprise.

As mentioned, it’s a novel in verse. Even though the lines are spare, the story is so rich with its descriptions, characters, and emotions. The relationship between Xiomara and her mom. Her brother. The priest. Her best friend, and a boy at school. They’re all so well-developed and described.

I also loved the way the story explored her feelings about her faith. It’s complicated. But Xio doesn’t really feel understood by or interested in church and the things the priest teaches in her confirmation class. Her mom has really specific expectations and beliefs about church and faith. Her brother has other beliefs and values as a devout person of faith. I liked that the story showed a spectrum of belief and experience without making the book really about those things.

Really, this is a story about a girl finding her voice. Believing in her value. Learning about love– how to love herself, how to love someone else, and how to receive love from others, too. It’s about the power of words.

So. Yeah. I feel like in a lot of ways, I’m still in awe of the story. I have a hard copy, but I also borrowed the audiobook (which is read by the author) from the library. As I read, I went back and forth between those two versions, and I really enjoyed both. I definitely recommend this book.

Content Notes on Poet X

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Xiomara is Dominican American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Brief description of masturbation. Xio sees two boys walking together and realizes they are a couple.

Spiritual Content
Xio’s mom is very religious and focused on Xiomara’s confirmation and piety. Xiomara attends confirmation classes but has so many questions about her faith and why they aren’t learning stories about girls like her. Her priest says it’s important to let her take time to find the answers to those questions.

Xio describes her brother as being very devout.

Violent Content
Xiomara has a reputation as a fighter. She will beat up anyone who picks on her twin brother or use her fists to defend herself.

Drug Content
References to smoking pot. In one scene, she drinks a beer with a boy.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Memoir, Nonfiction, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , , ,

All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto
George M. Johnson
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Published April 28, 2020

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About All Boys Aren’t Blue

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, ALL BOYS AREN’T BLUE covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

My Review

George M. Johnson’s writing style definitely drew me in. He has this ability to dive into places in the human soul that I think we are often afraid to travel openly. He said things that challenged me but also things that resonated with me so deeply that I still feel their echoes.

The book is divided up into four parts, each part made up of chapters about different topics. He describes family connections and the way that his family consistently pulled together to love one another, acknowledging their imperfections, but recognizing the gift those relationships have been to him.

He also shares some vulnerable experiences in order to talk about how little information he had and how that affected choices he made. Some of the descriptions of these events are graphic. I really liked that he offered the context for his decision to include those stories, though, and his desire to help foster better education for the generation coming after him.

All in all, this is a poignant, brave, and articulate memoir that has a lot to offer its readers in terms of identity, culture, and masculinity.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
George is Black and queer. Some of his family members and friends also identify as LGBTQIA+

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently. The author also uses racist and homophobic slurs at times in the book. He explains his choices in an opening letter to readers.

Romance/Sexual Content
George describes a night when he was 13 and an older cousin molested him.

George also describes sexual experiences he had in college in one chapter.

Spiritual Content
George attended a Catholic high school.

Violent Content
Descriptions of a fight between boys in which two boys held George down while another kicked his front teeth in. Later, he references a cousin who was killed in a fight on the street.

Drug Content
Brief description of kids sneaking liquor from their parents’ cabinet. In college, George drank alcohol and smoked marijuana. He talks about how his smoking habit impacted his college attendance and grades.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: A Wilderness of Stars by Shea Earnshaw

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

A Wilderness of Stars
Shea Earnshaw
Simon & Schuster
Published November 29, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About A Wilderness of Stars

In this magical romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Deep, a mysterious illness cursing the land forces a teen girl astronomer to venture across the wilderness in search of the stars’ message that will, hopefully, save them all.

If magic lives anywhere, it’s in the stars…

​Vega has lived in the valley her whole life—forbidden by her mother to leave the safety of its borders because of the unknown threats waiting for her in the wilds beyond. But after her mother dies, Vega begins to see stars falling from the sky. It’s an omen she can no longer ignore, forcing her to leave the protective boundaries of the valley. But the outside world turns out to be much more terrifying than Vega could have imagined. People are gravely sick—they lose their eyesight and their hearing, just before they lose their lives.

What Vega keeps to herself is that she is the Last Astronomer—a title carried from generation to generation—and she is the only one who carries the knowledge of the stars. Knowledge that could hold the key to the cure. And so when locals spot the tattoo on Vega’s neck in the shape of a constellation—the mark of an astronomer—chaos erupts as the threats her mother warned her about become all too real.

Fearing for her life, Vega will be rescued by a girl named Cricket who will lead her to Noah, a boy marked by his own mysterious tattoos. On the run from the men who are hunting her, Vega, Cricket, and Noah will set out across the plains in search of the cure the stars speak of. But as the lines between friend and prisoner begin to blur, Vega must decide whether she will protect the sacred knowledge of an astronomer. Or if she will risk everything to try to save them all.

My Review

I liked a lot of things about this book. The writing is really cool. It’s a little bit artistic, but not so flowery that the story doesn’t feel real, if that makes any sense. It has a post-apocalyptic feel that reminded me a little of THE BALLAD OF DINAH CALDWELL.

The characters sometimes tripped me up, though. At one point, two girls are running from a group of men who seem intent on severely harming them, and they keep passing a bottle of liquor back and forth between them and drinking it. I was confused because it didn’t seem like something that someone in fear of their life would do. Drinking is going to dehydrate you and slow you down, which both seem like bad things?? So I was confused.

There’s also a thing about Vega’s tattoos needing to be covered. She decides to leave her hair down and move carefully so that her hair doesn’t expose her tattoo. I kept thinking she should use a scarf or something more reliable. She believes her life is in danger, and she’s trusting her hair not to move? That seemed a little strange to me. If she explained that she couldn’t wear a scarf without calling more attention to herself or arousing suspicion, that would have made more sense. She’s in several dangerous situations where she depends only on her hair, so I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I will say that the way the story unfolds was really cool. There were things I looked forward to happening, and when they did, that was super satisfying. There were other things I did not predict that kind of blew my mind.

All in all, I would say I still enjoyed the book. I wish some of the little things were explained better or made more sense, but on the whole, I loved Vega, Noah, and Cricket so much. And I loved the directions the overall story went, too.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
I’m not sure of the representation in the story. Some of the character descriptions were a little bit confusing to me. At least one minor character is described as having copper skin and curly hair.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. In one scene, they undress in front of one another and kiss. It’s hinted that they have sex as well.

Spiritual Content
Vega tells some of the mythological stories behind the constellations in the sky.

A group of people believe that the last Astronomer can cure the plague that is killing people.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. A violent band of men terrorize people, executing anyone who doesn’t cooperate with them, charging money from all businesses for “protection.” Descriptions of battle and gun fatalities. A man interrogates someone, preparing to torture them.

Drug Content
Teen characters drink alcohol.

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 A WILDERNESS OF STARS in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The 9:09 Project by Mark H. Parsons

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 9:09 Project
Mark H. Parsons
Delacorte Press
Published November 15, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The 9:09 Project

A thoughtful exploration about finding oneself, learning to hope after loss, and recognizing the role that family, friends, and even strangers can play in the healing process if you are open and willing to share your experience with others.

It has been two years since his mom’s death, and Jamison, his dad, and his younger sister seem to be coping, but they’ve been dealing with their loss separately and in different ways. When Jamison has to be reminded of his mother’s birthday, on the day of her birthday, he worries that his memory of her is slipping away, and he is forced to reckon with the passing of time. To help make sense of it, he picks up his camera—the Nikon his mother gave him a few years back.

Jamison begins to take photos of ordinary people on the street, at the same time and place each night. As he focuses his lens on the random people who cross his path, Jamison begins to see the world in a deeper way. His endeavor turns into a school project, and then into something more. Along with his new outlook, Jamison forges new and unexpected friendships at school. But more importantly, he’s able to revive the memory of his mother, and to connect with his father and younger sister once again.

My Review

I talk a lot about how much I love sister books, but I’m not sure I talk much about how much grief processing books mean to me, too. There’s something really powerful about a story that peels back the layers and reveals truths about love and loss that we don’t talk about. This book does that so well, and so many of the statements about loss and grief really resonated with me.

So, full disclosure, the ARC that I read opens with a note from the author, so I read that first. Which means before I even read the first line of the book, I was crying. The letter is about how the author was editing this book as he was saying goodbye to his mom, who was dying of the same type of cancer Jamison’s mom died from. I can’t even imagine how incredibly difficult that must have been. Absolutely heartbreaking.

I think one of my favorite things about the story, though, is that though it’s about grief, it doesn’t take the course that I have seen some other YA novels take. Meaning, it doesn’t focus on Jamison’s former friendships and how they’ve changed because of his grief, whose fault it is, or whether they can be repaired.

We don’t really know who his friends were before his mom’s death. He’s so totally disconnected from the Before time of his life that it never comes up. What we do get to see is the fresh growth of new friendships, what those mean to him, and how he learns to trust other people with his grief and share in theirs, too.

A fair amount of the story focuses on Jamison’s photography, which I loved. I especially loved the way that the Dorothea Lange quotes at the beginning of each chapter encapsulated something that happened in that chapter. I loved seeing those connections. Jamison shares some of the technical aspects of editing photos, but context clues were enough for me to follow along. I know the photography side, so that was familiar to me, but I think it’d be easily accessible to someone who didn’t have the knowledge.

I really liked the characters, too. Not just Jamison, but his sister, Assi, and Seth, too. They each bring really interesting elements to the story, and I liked that his relationship with each of them is different.

On the whole, I would call this one a win. I think readers who enjoy books by John Green should really check this one out.

Content Notes for The 9:09 Project

Some racist and sexist statements.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Jamison is white and has synesthesia.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
A girl hints that she would like to have sex with Jamison. A girl suggests that Jamison take nude photos of her. Later she shares nude photos with him. (Pictures are not described in any detail.) A boy and a girl spend the night together. Later it’s mentioned that they had sex.

Spiritual Content
Jamison mentions that he feels his mom’s presence at times.

Violent Content
A group of boys at school create a list where they rank girls according to their looks on a scale of 1 to 10. Jamison and others are pretty grossed out by the whole thing. More than one student confronts them about it. Students refer to a Lebanese American girl as “AK-47”, a covert way of saying they think she’s a terrorist. Several students call this out as offensive as well, but it does happen throughout the story.

Drug Content
Jamison and others drink alcohol at a party. In one scene, Jamison’s father offers him a beer. (Jamison is 17.)

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 THE 9:09 PROJECT in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

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

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
Crystal Maldonado
Holiday House
Published February 2, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.

People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it’s hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn’t help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. And be quieter.

But there’s one person who’s always in Charlie’s corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing–he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her? UGHHH. Everything is now officially a MESS.

A sensitive, funny, and painful coming-of-age story with a wry voice and tons of chisme, FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA tackles our relationships to our parents, our bodies, our cultures, and ourselves.

My Review

I have so many thoughts, and I’ve had days to try to organize them, but I’m still sifting. I feel like that’s always a good sign with a book. Sometimes simple books that don’t require thought afterward are fun, but I definitely prefer books that leave me with things to think about or emotions to process.

First, the relationships in this book. Wow. Charlie has a complex relationship with her mom. Her mom says gross and deeply critical-slash-toxic things to her about her body and her habits. It feels like she’s regurgitating the harmful things she’s been told about being fat, which is both wrong and terrible, but also made me hurt for her. The story isn’t about her, but that underlying hurt made Charlie’s mom a complicated character and helped us see why Charlie had big feelings about her mom.

Relationships Make the Book

Charlie’s relationship with Amelia. Also wow. I loved Amelia, and I loved some of the components of Charlie and Amelia’s friendship. I loved that as different things happened in the book, I felt like I got to observe them and see not just Charlie’s perspective, but I felt like there were subtle cues about when she was wrong, too. That balance is really difficult– if things are too subtle, they’ll go unnoticed, but if they’re too bold, the story feels forced. So I think the balance there was expertly managed.

Additionally, I loved the first love component of FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA, too. The heartbreak. The challenges to trust. Charlie’s moments of self-reflection. Also, Charlie’s experience of falling in love for the first time, and having to figure out how to navigate all those first-love challenges herself.

All in all, I think this one will stick with me a long time. I loved so many moments in the story, and I think the character relationships are absolutely amazing. Readers looking for a first love story, add this one to your list. Fans of PRETTY FUNNY FOR A GIRL by Rebecca Elliot should check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Charlie is Puerto Rican and plus-sized. Her best friend Amelia is Black and pansexual.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl. References to touching over clothes. Charlie’s friend Amelia makes plans to have sex with her boyfriend. He breaks up with her when she decides she can’t go through with it.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Charlie and Amelia drink alcohol in one scene.

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 FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Long Story Short
Serena Kaylor
Wednesday Books
Published July 26, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Long Story Short

Growing up homeschooled in Berkeley, California, Beatrice Quinn is a statistical genius who has dreamed her whole life of discovering new mathematical challenges at a school like Oxford University. She always thought the hardest part would be getting in, not convincing her parents to let her go. But while math has always made sense to Beatrice, making friends is a problem she hasn’t been able to solve, so her parents are worried about sending her halfway across the world. The compromise: the Connecticut Shakespearean Summer Academy and a detailed list of teenage milestones to check off. She has six weeks to show her parents she can pull off the role of “normal” teenager and won’t spend the rest of her life hiding in a library.

Unfortunately, hearts and hormones don’t follow any rules, and there is no equation for teenage interactions. When she’s adopted by a group of eclectic theater kids, and immediately makes an enemy of the popular—and, annoyingly gorgeous—British son of the camp founders, she realizes that relationships are trickier than calculus. With her future on the line, this girl genius stumbles through illicit parties, double dog dares, and more than your fair share of Shakespeare. But before the final curtain falls, will Beatrice realize that there’s more to life than she can find in the pages of a book?

In this sparkling debut from Serena Kaylor, Long Story Short is a YA rom-com about a homeschooled math genius who finds herself out of her element at a theater summer camp and learns that life—and love—can’t be lived by the (text)book.

My Review

Witty banter is my favorite reasons to fall in love with a book, and LONG STORY SHORT has it in droves. I really enjoyed the back and forth between Beatrice, Mia, and Nolan. Also, I loved the verbal combat between Beatrice and Nik. I found it easy to invest in the characters and want them to succeed.

My only criticism is that I felt like Mia and Nolan were kind of too perfect as friends. Beatrice’s awkward inability to connect and her difficulty developing friendships got squished into an almost unbelievably short timeline. I get that the plot needed that, and I wanted to invest in the relationships, so I did. But I couldn’t help asking myself why her parents were so worried? All she seemed to need were two people who were simply willing to give her a chance.

I really liked that she had to go to a Shakespeare camp. The way those stories and quotes were used in the book added a lot of depth. Also, I enjoyed the quote match between her and Nik. I loved the way they used those quotes to trip each other up and as a whole other conversation, too.

On the whole, despite the super quick bestie plot armor, I really enjoyed reading LONG STORY SHORT. I think fans of KATE IN WAITING by Becky Albertalli will really enjoy this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Nikhil is English and Indian. Beatrice’s best friend Mia is Black and bisexual, and another friend, Nolan, is gay.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Reference to Beatrice’s parents being sexual therapists.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A girl bullies another girl.

Drug Content
Bea and other teens drink alcohol at a party.

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 LONG STORY SHORT in exchange for my honest review.