The Jubilee Express by Maureen Johnson-2 stars

This story was very unrealistic honestly, and I think that's why I had issues with it. The story itself was fairly cute, but I never connected to the characters or the plot. Though, I do have to say Stuart was really adorable. All in all, this one was just unremarkable.

A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle by John Green-1 star

This was a mess, to say the least. For starters, I predicted the ending within the first few pages, which is never good. On top of that, the blatant sexism was disgusting. I expected so much more from John Green that the "she's not like other girls" trope. I'm not kidding, there was an entire paragraph about The Duke (also what a stupid nickname) being Not Like Other Girls™.

"'You know, that you're not, like, a threat. Like, most girls, if they have a boyfriend, they don't want their boyfriend hanging out all the time with another girl. And Brittany didn't get that you, like, aren't really a girl.'

'If by that you mean that I dislike celebrity magazines, prefer food to anorexia, refuse to watch TV shows about models, and hate the color pink, then yes. I am proud to be not really a girl.'"

Um. Excuse me?

And beyond that, this entire story was about the two guys wanting to go to the Waffle House miles away in the snow just to see cheerleaders. What. The. Heck. That's not plot, that's sexism. And then later, there was a homophobic remark. By that point, I had already decided this story was and is trash.

The Patron Saint of Pigs by Lauren Myracle-1 star

And if this book couldn't get any worse, we get 100+ pages of a bratty girl being bratty and wanting for boyfriend to take her back after cheating because she's "changed". To be effective, she would have actually had to change by the end of the story, but in my honest opinion, she was a brat at the end too. Just because she did something nice for her friend and an old lady doesn't mean she's a kind soul forever now. And also her boyfriend sort of changed? I feel like this story radiated the idea that you have to change for love and that's definitely not true. He really didn't need to change at all; she needed to learn to accept him as he is.

Ugh.

This set of stories was a waste of my time honestly. And it's also gotten to the point where if I don't see LGBTQ+ representation I get kind of sad. I know not all books will have it, but I'm just hopeful...

Anyway, take this as you want, for all I know, you could be the next big fan of this story. It just wasn't for me.

-Book Hugger

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