Disclaimer: I bought my copy of this book from Vania’s job at Brave and Kind, but I also received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks and support your local indie bookstores! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book: Why on Earth 

 

Author: Vania Stoyanova (Editor), Rosiee Thor (Editor), Alex Brown, Beth Revis, Emily Lloyd-Jones, Eric Smith, Julian Winters, Laura Pohl, Maya Gittelman, M.K. England, Rebecca Kim Wells, S.J. Whitby 

 

Book Series: Standalone 

 

Rating: 5/5 

 

Diversity: Bisexual character, Black gay MMC, Brazilian FMC and characters, Immigrant-like characters, Queer MCs and characters, Trans MC, Genderqueer characters, Nonbinary character 

 

Recommended For...: Young Adult Readers, Sci-Fi, Anthology, Queer, Aliens, Romance 

 

Publication Date: February 4, 2025 

 

Genre: Young Adult Sci-Fi Anthology 

 

Age Relevance: 13+ (romance, torture, language, grief, death, parental death, sibling death, parental abandonment, animal death) 

 

Explanation of CWs: There is some slight romance throughout the different stories in the book. Torture is mentioned in one story. There is some slight language in a couple of different stories. There is parental and/or sibling death and parental abandonment mentioned in a couple of stories. There is a scene with an animal death. There is death mentioned in a couple of stories. There is some grief present in a few of the stories. 

 

If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: Wonderland 

 

Publisher: Page Street YA 

 

Pages: 336 

 

Synopsis: What starts as a simple rescue mission for a crew of teen aliens to recover one of their own soon becomes an interstellar encounter no one will forget. Captain Iona is organizing an impromptu retrieval for her brother, an undercover alien posing as a movie star. But her efforts go awry when a technical malfunction turns her heroic rescue into an unintentional invasion. With tales of disguised extraterrestrials stuck in theme parks, starship engineers hitchhiking to get home, and myth-inspired intergalactic sibling reunions, each story in this multi-author anthology explores the universal desire to be loved and understood, no matter where you come from. After all...aliens are just like us. 

 

Review: I really liked this anthology and I'm not normally one for them. I liked the conversation about the different types of discrimination and I think the book is symbolic overall of the experience immigrants have who come over to America, misunderstood being the biggest obstacle. There was also a sense of "othering" in multiple stories as a theme that connected the human characters to the alien characters and to the experience many readers might have in their own world. The world building was great and I'd love to read more of any story in this book.
 
 The only issue I really had with the book is the pacing in some stories and how back and forth the timeline is overall. I'd also have liked an ending outro with all of the alien characters, but that's just me. 

 

Verdict: This was such a fun adventure! Highly recommend!