I just love Saenz's writing, it's so beautiful, and it's the perfect kind of writing to capture the life of Salvador Silva. Salvador is just a kid adopted by a gay man who ends up be surrounded by amazing people who've been put in horrible situations. If you loved Ari & Dante, you will love this.

I read an advanced reader's copy because I work at a book store so that happens sometimes...
I've been so excited to read this book ever since I first heard it was going to be a thing. I loved the quirky-ness of the synopsis and of course the fact that it was about fangirls. As a pretty big 1D fangirl myself, I could totally relate to some of the things that the main character was describing about being a part of a fandom: the fansites, the fanfiction, the twitter accounts, etc. And of course the question as to WHY FANGIRLS CARE SO MUCH. I also really enjoyed - as a 19 year-old - seeing/reading about the real things that are the boys girls fangirl about. Like a tattoo being nothing more than something fun or weird; nothing deep at all like fans might speculate. I think something young-teens forget is that the boybands they love are not fictional characters- they're actual people.
I have to say, the ending really surprised me and pulled the rating from a 3 to a 4 star novel. At first, I just found myself connecting to the fangirl-ness (minus the kidnapping), but then it touched a lot of other things, like mental health and friendship.
If you're unsure about whether you're going to pick this up on February 23rd, I say bite the bullet and read it!

GUYS. THIS BOOK.

(I received an advanced copy because I work at a bookstore so it happens sometimes.)

I wasn't really expecting anything from this book. I knew that Cherie Priest is known for writing adult stempunk/creepy stuff, but this being her first young adult novel, I was very skeptical. I DON'T KNOW WHY. This is probably going to make it onto my favourites of this year list, and will definitely have my staff pick sticker on it when we get it in stock.

This book starts off with Libby (broken leg) and May (asthma) meeting during PE class in their exile to the kindergarten playground. As they pick up pieces of chalk, the begin to create Princess X; a fictional story in which a Princess rules her kindom from her haunted house with nice ghosts by herself, but not because her parents are dead, they're just retired. Skip years later and Libby is pulled from the water, dead, after a tragic accident with her mother.
Three years after the accident we follow May moving on with her life until she finds a sticker in a window with a figure that looks EXACTLY like Princess X. Anyone could have put it there, and upon further investigation, May finds out that it's not just a sticker, but a whole website.
So the big question is, what really happened to Libby? We get to follow May, and Trick, a friend she meets along the way as they read the Princess X webcomic and discover the story behind what happened to Libby, and the clues to find her.

I have to say, my heart was absolutely POUNDING throughout some of this book. I loved the way Priest wrote this because the dark moments kept you reading and wondering what may happen. I wasn't sure if they'd make it out, if they'd run into trouble, if we'd get a happy ending, and I love that! throw in some witty banter between May and Trick so for comic relief, and this story gets an A+.

Oh! And did I mention we get to read this awesome, clue-filled webcomic along with May? Yeah, it's all drawn in the novel for us. So cool!

I would recommend this to anyone disappointed by the lack of suspense in Young Adult novels. *cough* Black Ice *cough* You can bet, I'll be recommending this like crazy on my YouTube channel!

HO-HO MAN LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT THIS BOOK
we've got two gay guys, one has ADHD (arthur), one is Puerto Rican (ben). Ben's best friend gets panic attacks. OH AND THAT's NOT ALL
Healthy romantic relationships!
Great friendships!
Healthy ways to make up with your friends!
A little bit of teenage-angst, but acknowledgment of that teenage-angst!
Great parents!
A first-love story!

This follows two guys. Arthur is living in New York City for the summer while his mom works at her firm's NYC office. Arthur interns there for the summer to add it to his resume. His dad is a web-developer between jobs. He came out to his friends and family just before the summer and their all super chill about it, but his friend Ethan has been acting kind weird. Arthur is Jewish and he has ADHD. This story isn't about Arthur being gay and coming-out, and it's not about his struggles with ADHD, it's about his first love, Ben.
Ben is Puerto Rican, and he's white-passing. He's just broken up with his friends-first, now ex-boyfriend Hudson. Them dating and breaking up has taken a toll on his friend group, and they've broken up into Hudson and Harriet, and Ben and Dylan. Dylan has a panic disorder (hashtag relatable!). But now he's taking summer school and Hudson and Harriet are there, so it sucks.
Upon taking a box of Hudson's stuff to the post office so Ben doesn't have to hand it over in person, Ben and Arthur run into each other.
The parents are fantastic too. I've said this before and I'll say it again, YA author consistently find ways to get rid of parents so their characters can do whatever they want and it's just not realistic in contemporaries. Ben's parents are great with getting him to connect with his Puerto Rican roots, and he's got a reasonable curfew. They show interest in his grades and they want to meet Arthur right away. Arthur's parents encourage him to openly talk about his relationships and share his everyday life with him. Arthur is concerned cause they seem to be fighting a lot lately since his dad is between jobs, but they're open about that, too.
A big thing for me was that this book wasn't about the struggles of mental health, or arguing parents, or finding where you fit in the world, or coming-out - even though those issues are there and they're important, it's not the sole focus of the story. Instead this book is about relationships. Romantic and platonic. The different ways platonic friends show affection for each other, the different ways romantic relationships show affection. It's about breaking-up and making-up. I loved how the rifts in friendships were handled. It's something everyone goes through, and the characters handle it in such mature and healthy ways. It's ok when books handle it like teenagers might, but they rarely learn their mistakes when that happens. This book doesn't do that. They make mistake, but they learn and they grow, and they make mature decisions because of it. And I'm not gonna spoil it... but the ending! I really, really liked the ending!
Oh, and Ben and Arthur are both total nerds. Ben wants to be a writer and his writing a fantasy novel. He's into fanfiction and playing the Sims. Arthur is obsessed with musicals... particularly Dear Even Hansen and Hamilton, right now. So like, obviously you have to read this if you like Hamilton. I kind of wanted to be annoyed with the Hamilton references. Sometimes I find references to current tech and pop-culture in novels pulls me out a bit. It almost feels like reaching and begging for an audience to read your books. But this is references done right. Instagram and texting fit seamlessly into the narrative, and sharing a love for writing and a love for Hamilton is just what friends do. When you like something, you want to share it. So it's not overdone in the way I feel like other authors overdo the references.

Obviously this one's a 5/5 stars. I can't wait for everyone to read it come September!

Thanks again to Harper Collins for the e-arc on Edelweiss!

this one was so GOOD! so many clues and hints!

3/5 stars
TW: eating disorders, bulimia, anorexia.
This book follows Dana and her best friend Olivia. Taking place in the late 90's (1997, if I remember correctly), Olivia has always wanted to be a popstar, and has worked her whole life on singing and dancing to get there. Dana, though, has grown up just wanting to not be like her alcoholic mom. Dana goes with Olivia to Orlando, and through a fluke, ends up auditioning too. Turns out, she has real talent and both girls are chosen as members of a new girl group, Daisy Chain. along the way, Dana meets Alex, a cute guy in a boy band belonging to the same music company.
My biggest thing with this big was that is was just one note (a problem I seem to have with a lot of contemporaries). After moving to Orlando to train, Dana realizes just how different her life has been from Olivia's and this causes a rift in their friendship. Throw in the boy, and that does too. Olivia grew up in a good neighbourhood, with parents willing to invest in her future, and got good grades. Dana was always scraping by, working part-time jobs, and just managed to graduate high school. And that's pretty much all this book is about. The one note.
Olivia is a terrible friend, let me just put that out there. She doesn't think before she speaks, and Dana is always rearing back from the words she says, but tries to brush them off, nonetheless. Dana's entire story here, ends up plagued by Olivia's constant overshadowing her. Her whole character ARC becomes based off the fact that she doesn't believe in herself, and I blame Olivia, her best friend, for not being a better friend and trying to lift her up. I liked this part. Being in the setting their thrown into, Dana can finally reflect on just how un-even their friendship has become. And on that note, I really liked the ending. (hence this tweet when I finished it LOL)
Also a quick mention that Olivia suffers with an eating disorder and I HATE the way it's dealt with. Her and Dana have this unspoken thing where Dana watches out for her and makes sure she eats, and if Olivia complies, she won't tell her mom. This is so stupid. If you think you're friend is suffering with something like this, you need to get them help, whether that is going to hurt their feelings or not. It reminds me of Play On by Michelle Smith, when the main character has to do this for his love interest. She hates him for it, but I think this is worth doing to help someone you care about. The novel never dives very deep into this (it's not even wrapped up at the end), but it's enough that you might be triggered by it.
So I liked watching Dana grow, and I liked the setting, and Alex was a pretty good character, too. That's why this is getting 3/5 stars.
I think you'll like this if you like books about musicians, like me. I think you'll like it if you're looking for a super light read. But if you're looking for something that's going to examine the lives of girl and boy bands in the 90's, you're not going to find it in this book.

TW: abuse, homophobic slurs, drug and alcohol use.
This whole book was off for me. The timeline was all over the place, which begins to make sense at the end, but I really don't think the reader should be forced to be confused about the timeline just to have a shock factor at the end. It was also really slow, and introduced things that had little to no affect on the plot as a whole.
That's really all I have to say about it.

Thanks to harper canada for the advanced e-arc

First I'm gonna talk about why I liked this book. Then I'm gonna talk about why I didn't.
I really, really liked Leah as a character. As a fellow fat girl I related to a lot of the things she had to say about being a larger-than-average teenager. She worries a lot about money, and cares a lot about her friends, and isn't afraid to speak up when she needs to (which can be a good thing and a bad thing). She's a little temperamental, and I couldn't find it in me to be annoyed with it because honestly that's exactly what I was like as a teenager. I also really loved her relationship with her mom. her mom had her when she was young, but she's still a really good mom, and wants what's best for Leah. And Leah sees and acknowledges that.
I also really liked seeing all the Simonverse characters together again. I can't tell you if it was fan service or not because honestly I'm a sucker for fan service.
But here's what I didn't like:
I couldn't tell you the plot? Like it's Leah and her friends gearing up for the end of high school and stuff, and Leah trying to figure out her crush on Abby, and whether or not she wants to come out to her friends. But that never really took a front as the main plot of the novel. They all read as side plots, but I couldn't figure out what they were side plots to?
And, if you didn't know already, there's this one part where Leah tries to police someone else's sexuality. Leah is confident that she is bisexual, but when someone tries to tell her that they're "lowkey bi," she tells them "it's not a real label." If you want more of a explanation behind it, I highly recommend Boricuan Bookworms blog post on it, cause they've hit it on the head. But basically this part sucks because it's manipulative, but it's also never redeemed. Like if Leah apologized for it, I'd be more comfortable, because she's showing character growth! But she doesn't. It's not even brought up as a discussion.
So, yeah. That's pretty much all I had to say. I think I could've easily given this novel a 4/5 had this scene played out differently, or was mentioned again. But I think it's a case of the author (and the people around her) not being aware that this is hurtful, and the scene going all the way to published.
3/5 stars.

I have one thing to say:
If you're a Rick Riordan fan, why are you sleeping on the Kanes????

maybe more review later.

I had no idea what this book was about going into it, but I had to read it for my global lit in Canada class. I've heard of Kim Thuy before because her novel Ru was nominated/won Canada Reads a few years back. I really enjoyed the style of this book, the tiny chapters flowed so well into each other and the storytelling feeling seamless. Nothing really happens in this book (though I'm looking forward to the lecture and discussion on it later this week), but it hit me anyways. I'm not really quite sure what else to say about it, except that I think the simplicity is beautiful, and the synopsis tells it all. If you like literary fiction, or voices that shrink the gaps between cultures, I think you'll enjoy this one.