howlinglibraries's Reviews (1.85k)

This was so, so good. This is the third book of Katee Robert's I've read, and while I did enjoy the other two very much, neither of them "clicked" with me 100%. Abel, however, had me from start to finish, fully invested and desperate to know what was happening next.

He grins, a fierce expression that’s part challenge and part amusement. “I see what she is, Eli. She’s not the princess.” He leans forward, dark eyes intent. “She’s just like us. Not the hero. Not the knight or the princess or whatever the fuck other box you can think up to shove her into. She’s the fucking dragon you think to protect her against. Really, someone needs to protect you from her."

In the beginning of the book, the story had me fully engrossed (as well as Abel's character - I'm such a sucker for the stoic, angry hard-ass who secretly has the heart of a teddy bear), even though I wasn't sure how I would feel about the throuple at the heart of the romance. I loved Abel from page 1, and quickly fell for Harlow, too, but Eli left me with mixed feelings for a long time; that said, Katee Robert knows how to write a damn redemption arc, and even when I wasn't sure if I could ship him with the other two, I never found myself bored by his chapters because his internal monologue was so interesting.

All of that aside, by somewhere around the 70% mark, I was cheering so hard for these three to get their HEA! Especially Abel, who honestly just deserves all of the best in the world, and I'll hear no arguments. I haven't read a lot of polyamorous romance stories, but this is easily my favorite throuple portrayal I've read. These three fit so damn well together, and it's clear as day that there's no imbalance - each of them needs and cherishes the others equally, and it's really stunning. ♥

I'm a little bit nervous about continuing the series because I know some of the other brothers are in some seemingly unrequited-love situations, and those are always a bit harder for me to read, but I loved Abel so much that I have no choice but to put my faith in Katee Robert and see what happens next!

Sigh. Junji Ito's work will always either blow me away, or leave me bored and wanting so much more - sadly, this was the latter. That said, I think anyone who is a Junji Ito fan should at least give this a try, as it's definitely unique from the rest of his works that I've read and it carries an interesting premise! I think I was mostly thrown off by the weird religious storyline that really comes into play near the end.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!

What a bummer. I've read two other graphic novels from Tony Sandoval and adored both of those, so I was really hoping we could go 3/3 on this one, but nope. There are too many little plot threads that never quite felt like they belonged together, and despite the nonstop action and a healthy dose of oddity, the plot kept losing my interest and I had to drag myself through the ending. I'm also a little uncomfortable with full-frontal nudity and some generally sexual scenes revolving around a character whose age is never explicitly identified, but who seems very much to me to be pre-teen or very early teens at most (mainly based off of her attitude, the evident ages of her peers, and a comment she makes having recently started to develop breasts). I dunno - aside from Sandoval's beautiful art style, this whole book was sadly quite a miss for me.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!

I have a tough time rating the Mercyverse graphic novels when I read them. On one hand, it follows the story fairly well, and I love the plot of Moon Called. On the other hand, I feel bad saying this, but these graphic novels generally always have some of my least favorite graphic novel art styles I've ever seen. A lot of the panels look to me like someone took one of those old 3D modeling programs (think Sims 2-esque) and then drew over the stills. The poses aren't natural, faces look odd, things are disproportionate... It doesn't work for me. I'll read Volume 2 just for the sake of finishing the adaptation, but yeah, this one's a mixed bag for sure and I'd really only recommend it to major MT fans who want to relive the Moon Called plot in a new way.

Meh. Like the first volume, I was disappointed immensely by the artwork and the delivery of the story. I read this only because I had already read Volume 1 and had checked this out from Hoopla, but I don't know if I'll continue reading Lawrence's adaptations of Patricia Briggs' books. That said, I did enjoy the bonus story at this end of this installment and how it tied into the A&O series.

“Burn it! Burn it. This is where the poems are,” I say, thumping a fist against my chest. “Will you burn me? Will you burn me, too?”

I’ve always been fond of stories told through verse, and I love Elizabeth’s poetry, so when I learned that she was writing her first YA novel, I knew I had to get my hands on it. I never once doubted that I would love it, but I didn’t know it could mean so much to me. I didn’t have a clue that I was in for such a raw, honest ride about how religion impacts children and how detrimental it can be to try keeping a teen from blossoming into their own bodies and sexuality. I know The Poet X is a love story to poetry, but as someone who was raised in a sheltered, religious home, terrified of my own body and the things it wanted, this is a love story to those kids, too.

I am the baby fat that settled into D-cups and swinging hips so that the boys who called me a whale in middle school now ask me to send them pictures of myself in a thong.

→ body acceptance ←
Every teen’s path has a few major obstacles, and Xiomara’s are her body, and the ways people view her for it. At 15-going-on-16, she’s a tall Dominican girl with a thick figure, and she laments the different struggles it causes her – whether it’s boys (and men) giving her unwanted attention, or her mother blaming her for it.

When your body takes up more room than your voice you are always the target of well-aimed rumors, which is why I let my knuckles talk for me. I’ve forced my skin just as thick as I am.

→ rape culture ←
Xiomara’s young, but she’s already so painfully aware of what rape culture does to the society she lives in. She constantly is harassed, whether it’s a cat-call on the sidewalk or a stranger’s hand on her curves, but her experience is depicted so honestly. I think an unfortunate number of women, of all ages, will read this story and relate to the nauseating mixture of guilt and anger brought on by these words and gestures we never, ever asked for – unless breathing in a woman’s body is “asking for it”.

Trying to unhear my mother turn my kissing ugly, my father call me the names all the kids have called me since I grew breasts.

→ love and self-love ←
Meanwhile, throughout the struggles of living in this rape culture, Xiomara wants to live, and be happy, and find love. She has a sweet, understated blossom of romance with Aman, a classmate from Trinidad, and even explores the ways in which she can become comfortable in her own skin: learning to see her body as beautiful, not oversized, and discovering what she wants and needs. (By the way, can we please get more books normalizing teen girls who explore their own bodies like this one does? We’ve tried this whole “girls don’t crave sex like boys do” approach in YA for way too long, and it’s clearly not getting anyone anywhere.)

And I knew then what I’d known since my period came: my body was trouble. I had to pray the trouble out of the body God gave me. My body was a problem. And I didn’t want any of these boys to be the ones to solve it.

→ abuse ←
The other big struggle in Xiomara’s life comes in the form of her family, and her mother’s religious views. If you are uncomfortable with religion being portrayed in a candid and sometimes negative light, I’ll go ahead and say that The Poet X may be one you should go into with caution, as Xiomara does raise a lot of questions about the church, scriptures, and God. She has a hard time coming to terms with the devout beliefs of her loved ones, and the gap between her religious views and her mother’s come to blows (literally) throughout the story. There is an honest depiction of parental abuse in this story, and her mother’s excuses are consistently rooted in her religious beliefs, which I know may make some of my religious friends uncomfortable, so I wanted to offer fair warning on that.

When I’m told to have faith in the father, the son, in men – and men are the first ones to make me feel so small.

→ religion and women ←
There’s also quite a lot of discussion regarding how girls are raised in devoutly religious households, and how common it is that they are taught that their bodies are a stumbling block for the men in their lives. Xiomara finds herself frustrated by the idea that she is expected to carry the full burden of what men do to her body, and muses a few concerns about how absent she feels that God is from the objectification and abuse she faces. There’s also a bit of talk about how queer individuals are treated in the church, as Xiomara’s twin brother is gay and closeted, and the siblings feel a substantial amount of terror regarding how he’s going to be treated if he is outed.

And I think about all the things we could be if we were never told our bodies were not built for them.

→ final thoughts ←
At its core, The Poet X is a story about overcoming the ideals that our families push upon us, learning how to know who we are and what we want, and loving ourselves when the world doesn’t make it easy. It’s about family, and the ways that we try to make situations work, and the desperation with which we must remember that, at the end of the day, we have to keep ourselves happy and safe – no matter the relationships it may cost us. It’s about body positivity and loving the skin that we’re in, and fighting back against a society that reduces us to cup sizes and the length of our skirts. It is a beautiful, empowering, diverse, feminist tale, and I will undoubtedly be recommending it to everyone, but especially to any young girls who need to hear that they are whole, they are good, and they deserve happiness and freedom.

Content warnings: slut-shaming, body-shaming, homophobia, parental abuse, bigotry

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

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#1 Get a Life, Chloe Brown ★★★★★
#2 Take a Hint, Dani Brown ★★★★★
#3 Act Your Age, Eve Brown

"Choke, Redford. Just choke."
He seemed to adore her more every second.

This is such a hard review for me to write, not because I'm upset about what to say, but the opposite: because it was so damn good that I just want to screech incoherently until you ALL go buy it immediately and shove your faces into this incredible, hilarious, swoon-worthy, steamy, gorgeous, complex little rom-com. ♥ It's genuinely everything good in the world of romance books rolled into one adorable little package and I just— *deep breath* I don't know how to possibly describe to you how much I love this book.

She was Chloe fucking Brown, and she was starting to wonder if she'd been brave from the beginning. If she'd just needed to love herself enough to realize it.

All this time, I thought nothing could ever trump Talia's A Girl Like Her, that no romance heroine could ever mean as much to me, but no, I was wrong: Chloe Brown is the romance heroine of my heart, and I couldn't love her anymore if I tried. Talia's blessed me before with characters I could relate to for their size, or their mental illness struggles, or their painful pasts, or even just their quirks and humor — but until reading this book, I didn't know how monumentally desperate I was to find a character I could see my chronic illness and pain represented in.

Chloe was used to seeing her life and her illness as normal, but she wasn't used to other people acting the same way.

I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that I sobbed over Chloe's struggles and victories, that I cried my eyes out over how genuinely and purely Red loves her and wants to take care of her, that this book literally changed me for the better because somehow, through some miraculous turn of phrases, Talia Hibbert was finally the angel who could get it through my thick skull that I am worthy of being loved, even on my worst days,... I'm choking up just typing this because it meant that much to me. Chloe meant that damn much to me.

"You, sir, are a menace. A menace to good and decent society, and to noble, chaste women such as myself—" She might have been insulted at how hard he laughed if she wasn't giggling herself.

I'm sorry, lovelies, I really didn't mean for this review to turn into such a rambling mess, but I just... whew. On a lighter note — because at its core, Get a Life, Chloe Brown is a rom-com and a damn successful one to boot — this book is adorable, and sexy, and so hilarious. I laughed so hard, and if you all could see my highlights on my kindle, it's unreal. I must've highlighted a solid 30% of the book just for sweet, swoony, and laugh-out-loud moments. Red is a stunning hero and I think he's just about impossible to avoid loving. And then there's Chloe's family! If you've read anything by Talia, you know her side characters are always absolutely BRILLIANT, and these are no exception. I'm bursting at the seams to get my hands on Chloe's sisters' stories because these women are fantastic and I need to get to know them as soon as humanly possible.

"For you," he said, as though it was obvious. "It's always for you."

I feel like I say this in every review I've written for this magnificent woman's stories, but I'm having to force myself to shut up because this review's gone on long enough already and at this point, I just want to resume incoherent screeching at you. This is easily one of the best books I've read all year and most likely my singular #1 favorite read of 2019, and you need it in your life.

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

Buddy read with Bex! ♥♥♥

What else is there to do? What else is there for any girl to do, when everyone but her can forget everything like a random bad dream?

After breaking up with her girlfriend/best friend, Mara's greatest comfort comes from her twin brother, Owen - until her best friend accuses him of rape, and Mara's entire world is thrown into a whirlwind of confusion, heartbreak, and traumatic memories of her own.

Let me say, first of all, that this book is one of the most genuinely important things I have ever read in my life. The timing is perfect, with all of the sexual assault allegations filling the news media today, and it forces the reader to face a hard question: what do you do when someone you love is accused of rape?

→ mara ←
Mara is such a lovable narrator, and so many of her feelings and thoughts were so incredibly candid and believable that it felt like she was a real person. She struggles from anxiety and panic attacks (which, as a person with an anxiety disorder, I felt were represented incredibly well), as well as PTSD.

Watching Mara develop as she grows to listen to the victim and to consider that, just because she loves Owen, does not guarantee his innocence, was so incredibly sad but familiar. I, like many people, am ashamed to say that I have struggled at times in the past to believe a victim's account of an incident because I simply don't want to believe the individual in question could have done something so terrible. Mara shamelessly holds up a mirror for those times, before lighting a path leading to the realization that our loved ones are not always who we hope they will be.

Despite the time it takes her to come to terms with the accusations, Mara never strays from being a caring young woman who wants desperately to take care of her loved ones.

Some parts of me are gone. Some others have come alive, woken by the need to fight, to matter, to be heard. Some parts are wary, others angry, others heartbroken. But I'm still me. I'm still moving.

→ owen ←
We are shown so many complex sides of Owen that I feel the story makes even the reader uncertain of the outcome at times. Owen is such a widely liked character, and is painted in such a wholesome light, that in the beginning of the book, it seems hard to imagine him as having intentionally done it. As the story progresses, and as Mara begins to see things differently, we are shown other perspectives of Owen - some so condemning that, in an instant, his entire persona shifts. I thought this was masterful storytelling on Ashley's part, and I loved how three-dimensional it made him.

Owen has always been loud and kind of crude with his friends, but that's not who he is with me. With me, he's a boy made of stars, soft and light and safe. He always has been.

→ hannah ←
Hannah is the innocent, sweet "hippie" of their friendship group, and she seems so wondrously in love with Owen that the segue into her accusations was downright jarring. Her likability only adds to the probability of her story, which realistically may make Mara's choice mildly easier than it would have been if Hannah had been an unknown, random character, or even an unlikable person. She was so delightful, though, and her heartache over having to make claims against Owen absolutely wrecked me.

"I never got it before, you know? All the stories I've heard other women tell about how much shame there is in being the one it happens to. But there is. There's this weight of responsibility, of... god, I don't know. Of just existing."

→ charlie ←
Beneath all of the rest of Mara's story, we have her ex-girlfriend and childhood bestie, Charlie, who Mara has broken up with because she feels incapable of carrying on a healthy relationship after her trauma. Charlie is a solidly flawed character, but never in a damning light, even when she reacts less-than-perfectly to Mara's painful history. She offers a terrific look into the life of a nonbinary character, and the struggles she faces in her daily life with her identity. (Obviously, as a cis-gendered woman, I can't speak to the authenticity of this rep, so while I enjoyed it, I am always open to reading own-voice reviews on this aspect!)

"I'm not sure. Both? Neither? Something else altogether?"

→ bisexuality ←
While the book has an enjoyable range of diversity in its casting, the most prominent aspect of that diversity was Mara's own bisexuality. Not only does she spend a sizable portion of the story struggling with her feelings for her ex-girlfriend, she also plays with the option of a male partner. I won't spoil who the individual is, but it opens up some incredible conversations regarding consent, sex, and her openness to people regardless of gender identity or sexuality.

As a bi woman who is also less on the love for "two genders" end of the spectrum and more on the "two or more identities" end, I adored every moment of the bi rep in this book. Much like in Ashley's last YA release, How to Make a Wish, she puts emotions and explanations into words that are so profound and resonating that they brought tears to my eyes. She doesn't shy away from discussing the struggles that come with biphobia specifically, even from misunderstanding loved ones.

And hey, that's more than a lot of kids get, especially in the South, where going out in public as a queer person can be like tiptoeing through a minefield.

→ other noteworthy topics ←
A few other things I wanted to touch on:

• In the beginning, we hear stories of how Mara and Owen’s mother considers herself a devout feminist, but as the story progresses, we see her gradually shift further away from her values in order to defend her son. This was such an incredibly candid view on how hard it can be for someone to admit that their loved ones have done something harmful, despite the morals they typically adhere to.

• Empowerment through sexuality is addressed in scenes where Mara chooses to dress in revealing clothing in order to draw attention away from another character’s pain; though her motives are wholesome, she finds that she loves the way the attention makes her feel, and makes a note that, when consent is given, being shown sexual attraction from other parties can be empowering and fun.

• In one scene, two characters are participating in some pretty heavy petting, and consent is directly asked for; one character even comments on how incredibly sexy and empowered she feels for being asked and saying “yes”. Later, consent is revoked during sexual activity, and the opposite party is immediately apologetic, understanding, and drops the issue. This is exactly the kind of consent discussion that YA books need!

→ final thoughts ←
I know this review is longer than my typical posts, but there are so many incredible and important moments in this story, and I've only shown you the tip of the iceberg. Ashley Herring Blake is doing work that most YA authors aren't brave enough to carry out, and she is executing it flawlessly. She has earned herself a permanent spot on my favorite authors list, and I only hope that this release will get the attention it deserves. I hope with everything in me that you will take my words to heart and pre-order yourself a copy of Girl Made of Stars. You won't regret it.

Content warnings: sexual assault, biphobia, homophobia, anxiety, depression, PTSD.

All quotes are taken from an unfinished ARC and may differ from final publication. Thank you so much to HMH Books for Young Readers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review, and thank you so much to Ashley Herring Blake for doing such profound and important work in the YA literary field.

You can find this review and more here on my blog!

I had a looooot of feelings about this book - actually, about how people have reacted to this book. So, I'm going to get a rant out of the way. Feel free to skip this paragraph if you don't like rants. People told me it was going to be absolutely horrible, that no self-respecting horror fan would enjoy it, that it didn't fit the horror genre, so on... alright. Lemme tell y'all something. I've been obsessed with horror movies AND books since I was five years old, roughly? I had a blast reading this book. Do not run around telling people that they are no longer horror fans if they enjoyed this book. Are we clear? YOU DO NOT GET TO BELITTLE PEOPLE FOR THE BOOKS THEY ENJOY. Just... stop that, it's gross as hell and immediately ruins any credibility you've ever had in the blogging world.

Okay, rant over. On to the review.

→ what i liked ←

- diversity: our main character, Makani, is biracial, and one of her best friends is trans. We get to take a little time to explore the complicated nuances that come along with being biracial and being at times pulled between your cultures, and we also get to see how accepting highschoolers are capable of being in regards to trans friends. It's good stuff. On a lesser note, our love interest has pink hair and refuses to let anyone belittle him for being "the straight guy with pink hair".

Just as it was rude and invasive to ask him about his genitalia or sexual preference, it was equally rude and invasive to ask her about her ethnicity. It was the sort of information that should only be volunteered. Never asked for.

- sex positivity: while I don't recall there being any sex scenes whatsoever in this book, there is definitely mention of sex, and it's handled in a really responsible way. Makani and Ollie never feel any need to "justify" how quickly their relationship turns physical, which I loved, because frankly, we need more books that demonstrate that there is nothing wrong with healthy sexual appetites. Also, there are several references to safe sex, with talk about condoms and the like, which we definitely do not see frequently enough in YA!

- the murders: of course they're not terrifying - this book is riding the line between YA contemporary and YA horror, so if you expected nightmare fodder, you should probably reevaluate your own genre-specific expectations... - but they are fun and bloody and a little unique (no spoilers but there's a scene where a guy's skull is literally cracked open and his brain is stabbed to mush, and if you don't find that fun, I dunno how to help you).

- the romance: like I said, this book is definitely straddling the line between horror and contemporary, and there is a very prominent running theme of romance throughout the contemporary side of it, but it's totally precious. Ollie is such a sweet and adorable love interest and, honestly, if Perkins ever announced a spin-off standard contemporary title about these two moving forward in their lives, I'd pre-order the hell out of it.

→ what i didn't like ←

- the killer: again, no spoilers, but the killer's identity did not surprise me at all, and worse yet, when their eventual motives were revealed, they were lackluster at best. This is definitely where I felt that Stephanie's horror novice-dom showed itself the most. The thing is, I know Perkins is a life-long horror fan, so she's probably aware of the tropes and such, which made me think while reading the book that I have a sinking suspicion she downplayed this entire plot point to make it more accessible to her contemporary fans? I might be looking too far into things, but that's genuinely my suspicion.

→ final thoughts ←

All in all, was this book perfect? Absolutely not. Was it terrifying? Hell, no. But as someone who has painfully low expectations for the complete disaster that is the YA horror genre in most cases, I was so pleasantly surprised by how fun this book was. I could barely put it down because it was just so easy to lose myself in! I could see myself rereading this in the future to fulfill my "cheesy teen slasher" cravings.

At the time I’m writing this review, it’s been a couple of days since I finished Sadie, and I still haven’t fully processed it. This is one of those stories that seeps into your bones somewhere along the way, and it changes the way you look at the world a little. It is the best mystery—and one of the best books, period—that I have ever read, and it is also one of the bleakest, most devastating reading experiences of my life.

And it begins, as so many stories do, with a dead girl.

You know, going into this story, that Sadie’s little sister’s body has just been found, and Sadie is on a mission to track down the man she believes is responsible. Besides the fact that it’s a story partially told through podcast episodes (which is such an incredible touch), that’s all you really need to know. This isn’t about what happens so much as it is about coming to know and love Sadie—and to know and love Mattie, too, through her memories. It’s about recognizing that the society we live in has this terrifying, grimy layer that nobody wants to talk about, where little girls are never really safe, and children are forced to grow up way too fast, to become adults in replacement of the parents they didn’t ask for.

Imagine having to live every day knowing the person who killed your sister is breathing the air she can’t, filling his lungs with it, tasting its sweetness. Imagine him knowing the steady weight of the earth under his feet while her body is buried six feet below it.

With a mother suffering from addiction, a community that looked the other way far too many times, and a life of barely keeping food on the table, much less having any real opportunities to succeed, Sadie feels like such an old soul. I don’t know how many readers will struggle to relate to the age of her inner monologue, but from another woman whose circumstances never quite allowed me to feel like a child, I saw so much of myself in the cynical, pragmatic way Sadie views the world around her.

I realized pretty early on that the who didn’t really matter so much. That anybody who listens to me, I end up loving them just a little.

It’s hard enough to grow up poor and in a broken family, but Sadie’s also queer—she doesn’t label herself, but explains her sexuality in ways that heavily point to pansexuality—and she stutters, which forms a barricade between her and the rest of the world. Her representation feels so valid and genuine, and it broke my heart every time she mused about how imprisoned she felt by her struggles with speech.

I’d do it all again and again for eternity if I had to. I don’t know why that’s not enough to bring her back.

More than anything else about Sadie’s character, though, I loved the fierce, maternal determination she has for taking care of Mattie—and, once Mattie is gone, for finding her killer and dishing out justice. Every memory of Mattie, whether told through her view of their adopted grandmother May Beth’s, is beautiful and haunting. The tremendous amount of guilt that Sadie carries as she blames herself for what went wrong had me completely breaking down in passages, and I’ll admit without shame that I read the last several chapters through tears. The most brutal part of it all is that, somehow, it feels like Sadie’s story could be based on a real girl—no, on countless real girls, all over the world.

I have never been kissed the way I want to be kissed and I have never been touched the way I want to be touched.

Without spoiling the plot, I want to warn you that this book focuses heavily on child abuse and sexual assault, and it is broken down in the most honest, agonizing ways. There’s also a solid portrayal of how deceptive abusers can be, as the abusers in question are shown to have fooled so many people. But there’s also another side to the representation here, as we see Sadie’s intense solidarity with other abused girls, and her desperate need to protect and defend them, even though (perhaps especially though) she feels that she failed to protect and defend her sister.

It’s about the lengths we go to protect the ones we love… and the high price we pay when we can’t.

There’s not much else I can tell you now, because I think it’s the kind of story that you should go into without too many expectations. Just climb in, let Sadie take you for a ride and tell you her story, and try not to let your heart get too broken in the process. This is a phenomenal story, and I know that I will be thinking about it for a long, long time to come.

Content warnings for child abuse, sexual assault, drug addiction, addiction-shaming, PTSD, violence, child abduction, child death

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Wednesday Books 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!