I read this a few years ago, so I'm just putting this mini review up because I already know some of you will be stunned to see that I 1-starred it. I DNFed it about halfway through because I absolutely hated the writing and, to be honest, thought it was kind of gross. I had forgotten how gross it made me feel until this year, when some of my friends sent me screenshots/photo excerpts while they were reading it, and I was like, "Oh, wow, yeah... never picking that one back up." No judgment AT ALL if you love this book (I know most people do!), but I don't have any desire to read anything else by Ernest Cline, honestly.

If you would like examples, you can actually view some of them here. Please be respectful of my opinion, as I promise to always be respectful of yours. <3

Assigned reading for MLIS 7421: Multicultural Youth Literature.

Wow, this is, like... literally one of the worst things I have ever seen win an award in my life. I am completely baffled as to how this book won the 2016 Stonewall YA Award, for a lot of reasons:

1. The protagonist isn't even queer. His friend is a lesbian. His friend who we watch the narrator hypersexualize and objectify every five pages.

2. The narrator cannot seem to go a single chapter without talking about his dick, and how everything his friend does gives him a boner. If I'd had to sit through one more mention of it or one more dick joke, I was going to chuck this book across my living room.

3. The writing is horrible. It's meant to be funny and the protagonist is supposed to be this super witty improv genius, but he's not funny, literally nothing he says or does is charming or amusing in the slightest, and whenever he's not thinking about his dick or how hot his new friend is, he's literally thinking to himself, "What can I say that's funny?" over and over. No joke, in one chapter, there are three different occasions where he gets upset because he isn't part of a conversation and he literally narrates that he's desperately trying to think of something hilarious so he can be the center of attention. It's awful. Awful. Literally one of the worst narrators I've ever read.

I can't even form a proper review for this. I refuse to try. I made it through about 150 pages before I slammed it shut and typed this up. I can most assuredly say that I will not be picking up anything else by this author, nor would I ever recommend this book to anyone.

Assigned reading for MLIS 7421: Multicultural Youth Literature.

I'm calling it quits on this one early. This is not even remotely enjoyable for me. It starts out with a bad tone as one of the Wills keeps fat-shaming Tiny (who, according to JG's website, is the *actual* main character), and then it just goes downhill so fast. The only thing I liked about the pages that I read was the Neutral Milk Hotel referencing, but even that is slightly ruined by how Manic Pixie John's writing manages to make them sound. Neutral Milk Hotel deserves better, okay?

There's also the immediate issue of one of the Wills' way of speaking about Jane, with the whole, "She's not the kind of girl I usually go for because her hair is too curly and she hangs out with boys..." Like, what? Is that seriously a reason not to like a girl? (This is probably a good time to mention that I have now read six of JG's works, and only liked his portrayal of one female character, and that was Hazel Grace. I staunchly believe John Green had some sort of demonic bargain in place when he wrote TFIOS because it is of such a higher caliber than everything he wrote before it, in my opinion.)

Buddy read with Lacy! ♥

"There are universes we know nothing of, Barrie Anne. Under the water. Beyond the sky. We live in a world of mysteries."

DNF @ pg186

TW: talk of miscarriage/infertility in this review

I am so, so sad to be DNFing this book. I have never 5-starred a DNF review before, but I am with this one.

It's a gorgeously written story and the witches in it are so wonderful. I honestly adore 95% of this book, but the 5% that I personally cannot handle is the only reason I'm putting it down. There are major trigger warnings for stillbirth (not a spoiler, it's mentioned very early in the book). I thought I could handle reading past those points, but every time the narrator remembered her pain, it just sent me into a fit of tears remembering my miscarriage.

I feel awful for not finishing this because I think this author is so tremendously talented and this book would be literally perfect for me if I could work past those sections, but I can't, and even with the baby she finds and adopts in the beginning of the book, the narrator is so scared of losing her that it was sending my anxiety through the roofs thinking about how scared I was of the thought of losing my rainbow baby when he came along. So, yeah, if any of this sounds like something you can't handle, please take care of yourself. ♥ If you can handle those TWs, then please pick this book up and give it the love it deserves.

There's also a content warning for very sad references to a former f/f romance that has been severed due to homophobia and the US' mid-1900s general lack of acceptance for queer relationships.

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Redhook for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF @ 80pg

I'm not rating this one because it's definitely just a case of a book not being what I was looking for, but this book is marketed as a dark and fast-paced psychological thriller, which is not what I've gotten so far. Instead, I've gotten two perspectives: one being Corrine, whose only ongoing thought process is her struggle with infertility, and the other being her sister, whose chapters are all solely revolving around her cranky infant daughter and the fact that her husband seems to be having an affair. I'm just very bored, and I don't particularly enjoy the writing voice, so I'm going to move on to something else.

I'm not going to bother with giving this a full, in-depth review, and I apologize for that, but this book uses a tremendous re-occurrence of a slur ("g*psy", a common slur against Romani peoples) and makes no apology for it. There's even an author note in the back of the book in which the author tries to justify and make excuses for her insistence to add this book for the sake of "historical accuracy". That's not an excuse that flies with me, and when I skipped ahead and saw this justification, I DNFed the book. There are many other terms that could've been used to ensure accuracy, that wouldn't have been so potentially hurtful.

Besides the slur usage, the writing in this story felt rather poor right off the bat and the plot was not compelling in the least. I was hoping for a dark, creepy historical fiction, but I was merely bored.

Thank you to HarperTeen for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF @ ~150pg

If it tells you anything about how severely I disliked this book, I only got a little over 100 pages into it and I had a literal full PAGE of bullet points for things that I found to be nonsensical, annoying, or downright unhealthy.

I wanted so, so badly to love this book. There are so few own-voice gay books in the world that, when I saw this on NetGalley, I immediately requested it and was ecstatic when I got my approval. Plus, the fact that it was a thriller, and judging by the title, had some relation to an Alice retelling? Yes! This book was supposed to be perfect!

Unfortunately, it completely bombed for me, right from the beginning. It starts off with an incredibly unhealthy portrayal of a relationship, as the main character gushes and raves about how his ex-boyfriend (of a whopping month-long relationship) completed him:

“I was like a violin—an object that hasn’t much purpose until someone touches it, fills it with resonance, draws things from it that it can never produce on its own. Sebastian had been the one to draw music from me, and it’s why the end was so bad; before him, I’d never actually realized how painful the silence was.”

Can we please stop writing YA books that tell teens - of any sexuality or gender identity - that their significant others should complete them and bring meaning into their previously dismal, hopeless lives? It's like Twilight all over again, I swear.

The unhealthy portrayals continue as we learn that the ex-boyfriend/love interest is a black bisexual teen boy who is depicted in some of the worst possible lights. He not only flirted incessantly with other people while dating the protagonist and remained best friends with a group of kids who constantly beat Rufus up, but he then proceeded to ghost the poor kid so that he could go crawling back to his ex-girlfriend. The entire character arc for Sebastian (the ex-boyfriend) is gross. Not to mention, in the first 1/2 of the book (which is roughly what I read), his entire purpose is just a plot device - there's very little dialogue on his end at all, and he honestly just feels like a prop.

The final straw for me, however, was how unrealistic many of the events (past and present) were. Rufus is abused constantly at school, to the point of broken bones over and over again, but nobody ever steps in, including his mother (which would make more sense if she was written as a neglectful parent, but she's actually a very loving figure). There are discussions of legal matters between Rufus' parents that make no sense at all and make it very evident that no substantial research went into the laws behind these topics.

If you're looking for a queer YA thriller and don't mind complete suspension of disbelief while you read it, I would say maybe check this out, but otherwise, there are many better books in the world for you to spend your time and money on.

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Feiwel & Friends for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

You can find this review and more on my blog, or you can follow me on twitter, bookstagram, or facebook!

DNF @ page 49

I am absolutely not the ideal reader for this book. I was sent an unsolicited ARC of this book and despite having a really busy schedule of review copies I requested lately, I wanted to give it a try because I was incredibly appreciative of the publisher sending this to me, but I think I'm past the age of being able to deal with cranky YA contemporary protagonists being hateful to their families. I get that she's shocked by learning about this big "twist" in her family, but the way she reacts is honestly just irritating.

DNF @ 50pg

I DNFed this one so fast that I won't be rating it, but I think I'm doing the book a mercy in this decision, because if I'd read enough of it to justify a star rating, I'm pretty sure it would've been a measly 1 (maybe 2, at most).

I received this as an ARC from the publishing house without requesting it, but it sounded like an interesting premise, so I decided to give it a try (plus, the cover is kinda gorgeous, and I'm a sucker for a pretty cover). Unfortunately, the writing is a disaster. It's jumpy, feels unnatural and stilted, and every action feels utterly inconsequential. Even in the first few pages, events occur that should be a really big deal, but they just get tossed aside and breezed past for no apparent reason.

On top of that, the sexual aspects of this book... oh, boy. I have no issue with sex in books. In fact, I think it typically adds a lot to the development of the story, if done well. This, however, is not a book that does it well. In the first few chapters, there's a "fake" sex scene that gave me what might have been the worst case of secondhand embarrassment any book has given me in years. Unfortunately, I don't think it was meant to be as funny and awkward as it turned out.

If it tells you anything, this book has me strongly considering creating a Goodreads shelf titled "interesting-ideas-with-terrible-execution".

Thank you to Page Street for offering me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really wanted to love this book. The synopsis sounds so cool, I love hist-fic (especially regarding famous murders), and the cover is gorgeous. I was so excited when I was approved for the ARC!

Sadly... I just can't do it. I tried really hard, but this writing style is horrible. I have never cringed so much in the first chapter of a book as I did in this one. I might try it again someday, but for now, I'm just going to have to DNF this one.