#21-26 book writeups

[wingstodust.livejournal.com]

21. Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth - oyceter already wrote a lovely review for this, to which I can only nod and agree with what has already been said, but yeah, I just, I love how she was spoiled and how the events around her force her to grow up. The feminism and colonialism bits were done perfectly, and you can’t help but root for Leila, spoiled and wrong as she is at times. =D Recommended.

22. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz - You know, the whole time I was reading this book I kept on feeling like I should like this more than I do. I mean, there’s reincarnation and angels and demons and twins who might or might not have been lovers in their past lives and it’s got such a Yuki Kaori flavour to it. But the whole style of the story read like Gossip Girl meets Twilight and frankly, I just couldn’t care about our emo teen’s plight and her great! love! for the bad boy. Paaaasssss. (Though if this were remade into a comic, I’d try it again.)

23. The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu - This is the usual fantasy quest storyline, where girl goes on an adventure to gain the full potential of her powers and save the world, with a bit of futuristic elements and gateways to other worlds thrown in between. But you guys, I absolutely loved this. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been reading fantasy for a long while, but I haven’t felt charmed by the very magic of the fantasy world since I was still an elementary student. The Shadow Speaker revoked all those feelings of wonder in me. I was like LOOK SANDSTORMS THAT CAN TALK. LITERAL RAINMAKERS. TALKING SHADOWS. PEOPLE WHO CAN FLY. My local bookstore once again disappoints me by not having it, but I’m hoping this is just because the book was so good that people are buying it off the shelves faster than I can get to it. Seriously, so much love like woah. Highly, highly recommended.

24. Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley - This is probably the ONLY rich girl story I actually love. Like, every single rich girl story I picked up before, I never even cared about the protagonist and usually wouldn’t even finish it. This book? I swear, you couldn’t tear my hands from the very cover, that’s how into it I was. I really really didn’t expect to like it as much as I did, because it combines the two genres I usually hate (poor little rich kid + sports story) but Headley wrote this story with so much heart that I got passed my biases and went straight to going around people and being like “this is the BEST BOOK EVAR WHY HAVEN’T YOU READ IT YET?” Also, I will not lie, the line “ You don’t get a free pass into my paradise” will ALWAYS BE FTW. <33 As I clearly can’t make a proper review of this, you can just got to 50books_poc for much better reviews. Or, of course, just run to the nearest bookstore to get this novel. Whichever one works for you.

25. Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah - Amal decides to wear the hijab full time at her ultra preppy, ultra white school. And the story was surprisingly cute and funny! I was laughing so hard from my room that my dad thought I was talking on the phone late at night again, lulz. 50books_poc has a bunch of reviews that will do a way better job than anything I have to say about this, so I guess just go to their tag list of you want to read the reviews! Anyhow, highly recommended.

26. The First Part Last by Angela Johnson - asldkfjasdlkj SERIOUSLY WHY DIDN’T PEOPLE TELL ME ABOUT THIS BOOK SOONER!? Homg, one of the best pregnancy novels I read in a lifetime. The writing is so – I can’t, wow, I’m at loss for words. You know what? I’m just gonna quote a passage:

I’ve been thinking about it. Everything. And when Feather opens her eyes and looks up at me, I already know there’s change. But I figure if the world were really right, humans would live life backward and do the first part last. They’d be all knowing in the beginning and innocent in the end.

Then everybody could end their life on their momma or dady’s stomach in a warm room, waiting for the soft morning light.

Read it, read it, read it. It’s a small novella, just a 100-ish pages, surely EVERYONE can make time for such an amazing book like this one.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much Blue Bloods in a nutshell. It has all the elements for total awesomeness and a cool mythology, but the characters are just dull and the author is too into name dropping.

[triciasullivan.livejournal.com]

I just read the Angela Johnson, too. You're right: it's wonderful, and it's over too quickly! Beautiful book.