Tag Archives: LGBTQIA+

Review: How to Survive a Slasher by Justine Pucella Winans

Book Review and Content, Horror, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,
How to Survive a Slasher by Justine Pucella Winans

How to Survive a Slasher
Justine Pucella Winans
Bloomsbury
Published March 11, 2025

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About How to Survive a Slasher

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight meets Scream in this YA slasher that turns classic horror tropes on their heads.

Few people can say they faced the infamous Satterville Wolf Man and lived. But CJ Smith can.

She doesn’t talk about that, though.

CJ has survived the horror movie that is her life by following one rule: blend in and stay out of it. But that’s hard to do when your trauma gets turned into a bestselling book series. The Slasherville books are a true crime phenomenon, documenting the Wolf Man massacres that changed CJ’s life forever. CJ hates everything about the books and their fans, but at this point she’s just grateful there aren’t any more murders to write about.

Until one day when an unpublished Slasherville book shows up on her doorstep predicting new Wolf Man killings. CJ is sure it’s a bad prank. But then the events in the book start coming true, and when CJ breaks her one rule, the Final Girl-the person who, according to the book, was supposed to stop the Wolf Man-ends up dead. Suddenly, blending in and staying out of it is not an option, and CJ will have to use everything she knows about the rules of horror to make it out alive.

My Review

I’m generally not a huge fan of slasher books, but I enjoyed You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight (Kalynn Bayron… is there anything she can’t write?!?!) and the description of turning tropes on their heads had me intrigued. I’ve also read a couple of middle grade horror novels by Winans, and the first one in particular (The Otherwoods) is still a favorite. So with all that in mind, I wanted to check out this book.

One thing How to Survive a Slasher does well is acknowledge the slasher story tropes right out of the gate. It adds to the fun and genre-celebrating element of the book and relieves whatever tension might gather between readers and their willingness to suspend disbelief. It also made it feel like readers and characters were in on some of the same jokes, which was fun. There’s a line in the book that’s something like, “We’re not all characters in books!” Which was funny, too.

I like CJ as a character and found it easy to root for her throughout the story. CJ identifies as genderqueer and explains what that means to her, which I thought was cool. It’s nice to see characters represented in fiction that explore different ways to identify. CJ also discusses what her identity means to her and how it feels to try to describe her identity to others.

The story moves quickly, and at less than 300 pages, it’s a pretty quick read. If you’re a fan of the slasher tropes, or just want to read something that walks the line between celebrating them and poking fun at them, I think you’ll have fun with this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity throughout.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Characters have some discussions about spirituality in a more general sense. One character is an atheist. Others talk about the parallel between life and stories and whether we have assigned roles to play or are in charge of our own fates. Some characters act in service to a higher power, while others spurn that idea.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Brief graphic violence. Scenes show murders and accidental death.

Drug Content
In one scene, a teenager wishes for alcohol but doesn’t drink any.

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: What Wakes the Bells by Elle Tesch

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What Wakes the Bells
Elle Tesch
Feiwel & Friends
Published March 11, 2025

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About What Wakes the Bells

Inspired by an ominous Prague legend, What Wakes the Bells is a lavish gothic fantasy by debut author Elle Tesch that is perfect for fans of Adalyn Grace, Margaret Rogerson, and V.E. Schwab.

Built by long-gone Saints, the city of Vaiwyn lives and breathes and bleeds. As a Keeper, Mina knows better than most what her care of Vaiwyn’s bells means for the sentient city. It’s the Strauss family’s thousand-year legacy―prevent the Vespers from ringing, or they will awake a slumbering evil.

One afternoon, to Mina’s horror, her bell peals thirteen times, shattering the city’s tenuous peace. With so much of the city’s history and lore lost in a long-ago disaster, no one knows the danger that has been unleashed―until the city begins to fight back. As the sun sets, stone gargoyles and bronze statues tear away from their buildings and plinths to hunt people through the streets. Trapped in Mina’s bell, the soul of a twisted and power-hungry Saint festered. Now free of his prison, he hides behind the face of one of Vaiwyn’s citizens, corrupting the city and turning it on itself.

As the death toll rises, the only chance Mina has to stop the destruction and horrific killings is finding and destroying the Saint’s host. Everyone is a suspect, including Mina’s closest loved ones. She will have to decide how far she’ll go to save her city―and who she’s willing to kill to do it.

My Review

There are some really imaginative fantasy novels coming out in the YA market in the last few years, and I am absolutely loving it. The cover copy of the book reminded me a little bit of Where the Dark Stands Still by A. B. Poranek, which I read last year and adored.

I think the writing is a little more straightforward than Poranek’s, but not in a bad way. Maybe it’s simply that this book focuses on descriptions of magical things that are more familiar to us– walls, doorways, etc.– rather than ancient enchanted forests.

I could see this book appealing to readers who enjoy Francesca Zappia. This one feels somewhere in the middle between Katzenjammer, Zappia’s weird, contemporary fantasy in which the school students find themselves trapped in is alive, and Greymist Fair, a fairytale-esque fantasy and murder mystery.

Though it’s not specified, the words Mina uses to describe her relationship with romance and sex led me to think of her as on the asexual spectrum, maybe demisexual? At one point, she has a conversation with another character who doesn’t feel romantic attraction to others, and they both ultimately feel less alone after comparing notes on their identities. That was a sweet moment. I appreciated that they didn’t have the language to label themselves and how that left them more isolated, but that they ultimately connected and felt seen anyway. It’s a minor note in the whole story, but beautiful nonetheless.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book. It’s a layered, complex story that delivers on its promises. I’m excited to see what Tesch writes next.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used pretty infrequently. A few F-bombs, but not many.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. Mina has been in a romantic relationship for a while, but she hasn’t felt ready to do more than kiss. Her partner respects her boundaries and doesn’t push her for more contact than she’s comfortable with.

Spiritual Content
Some characters are immortal beings/deities with supernatural abilities. A curse trapped a powerful entity within the city’s bells, but Mina and other Keepers have to stop the bells from ringing twice a day. (The bell’s thirteenth chime would break the wards on the bells.) The city has some sentience. For example, if someone breaks a wall, the city can heal the hole and repair itself.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Battle violence. Some threats of torture. Some fall victim to a deadly plague connected to evil. A couple of scenes show dead bodies and describe burial rituals.

Drug Content
One character is an alcoholic as a result of past trauma. Mina and a couple of other characters drink alcohol together.

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: Flyboy by Kasey LeBlanc

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Flyboy
Kasey LeBlanc
Balzer + Bray
Published May 14, 2024

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About Flyboy

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets the speculative twists of The Night Circus in this standout debut YA novel, about a boy who visits the magic-filled circus of his dreams each night in order to escape his daily reality where his trans identity remains a secret.

After an incident at his school leaves closeted trans teenager Asher Sullivan needing stitches, his mother betrays him in the worst possible way—she sends him to Catholic school for his senior year. Now he has to contend with hideous plaid skirts, cranky nuns, and #bathroomJesus.

Nighttime brings an escape for Asher when he dreams of the Midnight Circus—the one place where he is seen for the boy he truly is. Too bad it exists only in his sleep. Or at least, that’s what he believes, until the day his annoyingly attractive trapeze rival, Apollo, walks out of his dreams and into his classroom. On the heels of this realization that the magical circus might be real, Asher also learns that his time there is limited.

In his desperation to hang onto the one place he feels at home, Asher sets both worlds on a collision course that could destroy all the relationships he cares about most. Now he must decide how far he’ll go to preserve the magical circus, even if it means facing his biggest challenge yet—coming out.

My Review

I love the concept of this story. Ash’s daytime life in Catholic school, the constant pain of being misgendered and living unseen juxtaposed against his life in the Midnight Circus, in which his body matches his identity and people truly see him, is brilliantly done. When he arrives at the circus at one point, Ash takes a full breath and notes that this is something he can’t do in his waking life. It’s a powerful moment.

His relationship with his mom is complex. He hasn’t come out to her at the story’s start, and he experiences so much frustration with her. It’s like he wants her to figure out that he’s a boy without telling her, even though he also knows he’s keeping her from knowing by not speaking up himself. That internal struggle felt so raw and so real.

The only thing in the story that I struggled with at all is the pacing. This is a big story, with two different worlds and casts, plus a romance subplot, plus a coming-out. There’s school drama, family drama, and friend drama, too. That’s a lot to fit into 364 pages.

There are a few big moments that I wish had had more space to breathe. For example, when we finally learn what happened that day in the bathroom, which left Ash needing stitches. That resolution was so important to the story, and it felt a little bit rushed to me.

On the whole, I think that’s a small thing. This is still an incredible debut novel that draws readers into understanding the pain of a closeted life and allows us to join in Asher’s triumph as he embraces his identity. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I’m truly excited to see what the author writes next.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some swearing and a handful of F-bombs.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Asher attends Catholic school and mass with his grandparents.

Violent Content
Homophobia and transphobia, including the use of a slur. Ash is misgendered by people who don’t know his identity, and he describes the hurt and dysphoria this causes. He witnesses a fight between three boys. He hears rumors that someone burned down a school. One scene shows a fire with people inside the building. References to a fatal car accident. Ash witnesses someone having what appears to be a stroke or heart attack. Ash punches a boy in the face.

Drug Content
Ash attends a party where teens drink alcohol. In one scene, Ash and two friends drink cheap wine and get very drunk.

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: Wishbone by Justine Pucella Winans

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Wishbone
Justine Pucella Winans
Publisher
Published September 17, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Wishbone

Coraline meets Ghost Squad in this terrifying story about what happens when you aren’t careful what you wish for.

Ollie wishes things could be different. He wishes his parents would stop fighting. He wishes his sister Mia didn’t have to worry about paying for college. He wishes people would accept him for who he is. Most of all, he wishes he wasn’t so angry about all of this.

When he and Mia find a two-tailed cat they name Wishbone, Ollie takes comfort in telling him everything he wishes would change—then, it does. Everything Ollie and Mia wish for comes true, and it’s like all of their problems are solved. But magic comes at a price. Their wishes have consequences, and a mysterious shadow man called The Mage is after Wishbone. Darkness is overtaking their world, and worst of all, it threatens to take over Ollie, too. Can he let go of everything he’s ever wanted, or will he let evil win?

My Review

I read The Otherwoods by the same author in 2023, and I enjoyed the spine-tingly elements of the story and how they ultimately played out. I’ve been meaning to read more by Winans, but it has taken me too long to get back to another of their books.

One of the things I knew I’d love about Wishbone is that it has a cat-who-is-not-a-cat character. Wishbone is a cat with two tails that has the inexplicable magical ability to grant wishes. He is feisty and prone to biting people, which makes sense, considering the trauma that he’s been through. I like the unpredictable nature of him as a character. For a long time, I wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to be good or bad. Eventually, he makes his alliances known and says pretty loyal to his people.

The book has a nicely inclusive cast. Ollie is a trans boy, but the book isn’t at all about him explaining his identity or existence. We enter his story past all of that, and he simply is who he is. He has other LGBTQIA+ friends and allies, too. The story touches on the impact of bullying and anger issues, and takes readers through a Twilight Zone kind of experience.

If you like scary stories like The Darkdeep by Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs, definitely check out Wishbone.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to a crush between Ollie and another character.

Spiritual Content
Another place/dimension Ollie calls The Backward Place contains magic and curses, including the ability to grant conditional wishes.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some characters try to kill other characters while under the influence of a curse. In one instance, a parent character tries to kill a child because of the curse. References to and a brief scene showing animal cruelty in an apparent science experiment.

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: Divining the Leaves by Shveta Thakrar

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

Divining the Leaves
Shveta Thakrar
HarperTeen
Published March 4, 2025

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About Divining the Leaves

From critically acclaimed author Shveta Thakrar comes a beautifully imagined contemporary fantasy about two teens, one a believer of magic who yearns to belong, the other a skeptic searching for an escape, who find themselves embroiled in a twisty world of court intrigue when they venture into a forest ruled by yakshas, mysterious woodland spirits drawn from Hindu and Buddhist folklore.

Plant-loving Ridhi Kapadia and popular Nilesh Batra were friends once.

Now, seventeen and alone, Ridhi blends natural perfumes, wears flower crowns, and wanders her local woods, listening for the leafy whispers of her beloved trees. Pleading for the yakshas to admit her into their enchanted forest kingdom, where she knows she truly belongs.

After learning his parents’ perfect marriage is a sham and getting suspended from school, a heartsick Nilesh lands at Ridhi’s doorstep—the last thing either of them wants. So when a pretty yakshini offers him the distraction of magic, the same magic he mocked Ridhi for believing in, he jumps at it.

Furious, Ridhi strikes a bargain with a noblewoman named Sulochana. In return for helping restore her reputation, Sulochana will turn Ridhi into the yakshini she yearns to be—and teach her to divine the trees’ murmurs.

But when Nilesh ends up trapped in the yakshas’ realm, Ridhi realizes the leaves might be telling a disturbing story about the forest her heart is rooted in—one that, even if the two of them band together, threatens to shred the future like so many thorns.

My Review

My favorite thing about this book are all the descriptions of flowers, trees, and plants. I also love the way that the author incorporates dance into this story so centered on nature and plants. In one scene, Ridhi dances so that her body tells the story of the forest she’s standing in. Because of the lush descriptions of the woods and magic, I that description really came to life. I’ve never seen anything like that so well-captured in a scene before. It’s something I think I’ll remember for a long time.

I also enjoyed the unfolding of the relationship between Ridhi and Nilesh. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I had certain expectations when I started the book, and for a minute, I was not sure I was going to like the way things unfolded. It took longer for him to grow on me as a character, but eventually, I felt like I understood him more and appreciated him. Ultimately, I love where the author took the story and the hints at new relationships in the ending. (Also hooray for the reference to tabletop games there at the end!)

So, yeah. I’ve got Star Daughter on my shelf, but haven’t gotten to it yet. Divining the Leaves is the first book by this author that I’ve read, and I am sure I will read more.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
The story contains magic and mythical beings from Hindu and Buddhist folklore.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. One scene very briefly shows a character being tortured.

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 Color Purple by Alice Walker

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The Color Purple
Alice Walker
Penguin Books
Published December 10, 2019 (Orig. 1982)

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Color Purple

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award

A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker’s epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.

“Reading The Color Purple was the first time I had seen Southern, Black women’s literature as world literature. In writing us into the world—bravely, unapologetically, and honestly—Alice Walker has given us a gift we will never be able to repay.” —Tayari Jones

“The Color Purple was what church should have been, what honest familial reckoning could have been, and it is still the only art object in the world by which all three generations of Black artists in my family judge American art.” —Kiese Laymon

My Review

This is my first time reading The Color Purple. I went back and forth between an ebook version and the audiobook version read by Alice Walker. She’s an excellent reader– I really enjoyed listening to her bring her characters and the story to life.

As you can see from the content section below, The Color Purple is a pretty heavy story about a woman who is abused by her father and then her husband before she falls in love with a woman. Through it all, the closest relationship, and the one she cherishes most, is the one between her and her sister, who has moved to Africa with a missionary couple.

It’s also an epistolary novel. At first, the book is the letters Celie writes to God. Later, it’s filled with the letters exchanged between Celie and her sister, Nettie. If you know me, you know I love sister stories, so this one has been on my reading list because of that.

I loved the relationship between Celie and Nettie. They may be far apart, and they may not know whether their sister has received any of their letters, but they continue writing and sharing their lives with one another.

Reading The Color Purple made me think a lot about women’s relationships because, at its heart, that’s really what this story is about. It’s about the power of friendship and love between women and what it can do. It teaches a lonely woman to love and be loved. It gets a woman out of prison. Love inspires a woman to open her own business. It connects women across seas, continents, and decades.

Conclusion

I really liked this book. Between the sister bond and the way that the women in the story developed relationships and cared for one another and one another’s families, I really invested in the story. I kept thinking about Celie and the other characters when I wasn’t reading. I can see why this book remains so popular and beloved. It’s got some heavy content, so this won’t be a story for everyone, but I think it’s beautifully written, and I’m so glad I read it this year.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Some explicit language used infrequently to describe sex. Some racist words used.

Romance/Sexual Content
The opening scene briefly (but graphically) describes a girl’s father raping her. She states that those attacks continue, but doesn’t further describe them. Later, she references sex with her husband in detached language, showing it’s not something she enjoys.

Another woman talks to Celie about her body and encourages her to explore her body on her own, which she later does. Two women kiss and touch each other (briefly described) and fall asleep together.

Another character reports that someone assaulted her.

Spiritual Content
Celie’s sister, Nettie, joins a Christian missionary group. Shug reminds Celie that the bible says not to kill anyone, and that Jesus faced his own trials and challenges.

Celie and Shug discuss God’s identity and how they imagine God. Shug rejects the idea that God is white or a man and instead thinks of all of creation as part of God and God being in all of creation. They discuss how the Bible describes Jesus’ hair as being like lamb’s wool.

Nettie describes the Olinka people’s worship of roofleaf, a plant they use to cover the tops of their homes.

Violent Content
Three scenes show brief but graphic descriptions of sexual assault or attempted assault. Brief descriptions of domestic abuse.

Two women briefly fight. A white man slaps a Black woman. She punches him in the face. The next time Celie sees her, she describes the horrific bruises and swelling left after the police brutally beat her.

References to FGM. References to colonialism, the history of slavery, and the abuse of plantation workers.

Drug Content
Adults drink alcohol and smoke. References to smoking marijuana as a habit or as part of a spiritual experience.

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