This is the first Bachelor-esque romance novel I’ve read since I hate The Bachelor and everything it stands for. But when I saw the blurb about this book and that the protagonist was plus-sized, I had to read it. It’s a cute little PG romcom Cinderella retelling with a sprinkle of instalove between Cindy and Henry. I love that Cindy is this confident plus-sized young woman who knows her worth (I can tell you I did not have the same confidence when I was 23). I appreciate that she loves fashion, shoes, and food, and no one gives her shit about it. She’s a big girl and she’s allowed to eat. Cindy’s so sure of herself and willing to stand up for herself. I think her stepsisters, Drew and Anna, are great and they stick up for their sister. The relationship between Cindy and her stepfamily is great and I really like that as a Cinderella retelling they weren’t just downright ugly towards her. Cindy actually pulls away from them as she’s wrapped up in the grief of losing her father suddenly a few years after her mother dies from cancer. I think Henry and Cindy have great chemistry, though it was icky that he was dating and flirty with other women (even if it was acting). This is advertised as an adult romance but really it’d be appropriate for 16 year olds to read (sorry, no spice just fluff). If you’re looking for just some cute romance with good plus sized representation, this is your book. 

I’ve got to say, this book seemed to go on forever and it still wasn’t enough! Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. I try very hard not to DNF books and the censored cursing was almost enough to annoy me but it grew on me and it was charming in its own way. The book is long and for the first quarter, it’s pretty boring, but there was just something about it that I just wanted to read more. I do agree it could be probably 250 pages less. I’m not sure if this book is large or has fine print but I read this on the Kindle and it felt like I was scrolling a million times before I got to the next page. I mean the chapters took 20-40 minutes to complete and I’m a fairly fast reader! And after 700+ pages I’m not really sure what the Crossing is or the purpose of a Dreamer. 

All those things aside, this book was unbelievably charming and witty and just funny! The slowest of burns when it comes to the plot and the romance (in this case, no romance just two people who clearly better fall in love meeting). It is a lot to ask your readers to basically read 700+ pages and it just be a set up for the actual plot and action in the next book (lord please just be a duology). But it was the dialogue that kept me intrigued and laughing. I probably screenshoted half the dialogue in this book to show my friend just to shake my head and laugh. It has kind of a “The Wizard, the Witch, and the Two Girls from Jersey” vibe to it that I really like. It has this lightness to it that you forget that really serious things are going down. It’s dorky, charming, funny, and just a bit refreshing. 

Sasha Pierce is a 30 year old substitute teacher with a serious case of wanderlust, has bad luck with love, and who mysteriously hasn’t had a dream since she was 5. She arrives to Old Middletown (in Wisconsin maybe? One of those states) in the middle of nowhere and no cell reception (and no one has WiFi? Immediately no). In tow, she has her childhood best friend Lyla, an orphan trust fund redhead-turned-blonde PhD student. Lyla is taking a break from her psych degree and tags along with Sasha (but she definitely complains along the way). Lyla is immediately suspicious of the town and states she wouldn’t be surprised if it was filled with supernatural or murderous beings. Lyla is used to Sasha’s wandering heart and is happy (well maybe not happy happy) to follow her all over the country. Sasha’s parents are also travelers and a currently out of the country. Sasha has a lot of other friends, whereas Lyla just has Sasha. Sasha’s more rational and quick to come up with reasonable explanations for the weird happenings (aka denial) since their arrival. Lyla, on the other hand, has read every fairytale and murder mystery out there and is suspicious of everyone and everything.  

Then, surprise surprise, it turns out the town is filled with witches. It sits upon an ancient site that is a Portal from our world to the Otherworld. The magic of the land draws more than it’s fair share of witches and some stick around and protect the gateway between the magical and non magical realms. Another weird thing about this town? There’s no men. And Earth has no wizards. However, it seems that Sasha is able to travel to the land between Earth and the rest of Otherworld, and this land (which happens to be sentient) is named (appropriately so) Between. It’s the first time in 25 years Sasha is able to dream and it turns out she astroprojects herself into a magical realm. It’s in one of these dreams where she meets the dashing, burned out Shadow King of Between (a True King) named Lorn. Also happens to be a super powerful sorcerer and has the tragic backstory of being an orphan raised in the Dark lands of Otherworld. 

Now Between is far from the picturesque, romanticized version of a fairytale. It is a land of wild magic and all of its citizens are drunken criminals (think just a land of a bunch of Pirates of the Caribbean pirates) but also contains Otherworld’a best thieves, spies, and assassins. Unfortunately for Sasha, she unwittingly (and impossibly) becomes a True Queen of Between (a rarity). This means she’s betrothed to Lorn now (through it’ll be a strictly business union *wink wink nudge nudge*) and she must leave Earth and live in Between or risk the destruction of her world. Oh and the High King of Otherworld is up to some nefarious schemes and it seems not everyone is happy that Between has chosen a Queen for itself and Lorn. 

The first half of the book is told from Sasha’s point-of-view and the second half is told from Lorn’s but the events in the second half happen in tandem with the events of the first half of the book. It was entertaining to watch two women so far out of their element trying to handle magic, witches, knights, elves, wizards, imps, drunken unicorns, betrothals, and kidnapping attempts. It was equally hilarious and heartwarming to see Lorn rule Between while ignoring the blossoming feelings he’s developing for Sasha. And I have to say it again, it is genuinely funny. The banter and sarcasm and just the absurdity of Between is absolutely entertaining and hilarious. So much of this book is highlighted and I want to buy the physical copy! 

I’ve read plenty of long boring books that have minimal reprieve (*cough* LotR) and I have to say this book though long and tedious with some 30% of it being boring, had enough zingers and one-liners to make it worth it. I love sarcasm and if you do too, this is your book. If you just want to sit back and just read a book with events as they’re happening and has a leisurely pace, this is it. The book like slowed down my brain and just felt like a breezy, relaxing, lazy ride. 

I’m patiently (but not really) waiting for book two. 

Okay let’s get into it! This book looked very cute, I mean the cover is adorable, and who doesn’t love a good fake dating trope? This is a queer YA summer romance and coming-of-age story. To start it is VERY clear that Noah is a naive, self-absorbed, and spoiled 16 year old boy. Noah is a trans boy who’s also a hopeless romantic. Noah is completely sure of himself and knows who he is (though it took him a bit to be sure that he was bi), and he runs a very popular Tumblr blog that deals with meet cute stories about trans people. Noah’s mistake is not only does he make up these stories, he based them in Miami, so it’s no surprise a troll calls him out on the clear deceit. The blog is a way for Noah to give hope to other trans kids but it also gives him a lot of validation and inflates his self importance. 

Noah reminds me of some friends I had in middle/high school, and yeah they were selfish and our friendship was pretty one sided, but they’re better people now, because that’s kind of what it’s like to be a teen. Teens are just self-absorbed assholes with no real forethought. They’re reckless and act on impulse. Noah’s also obsessed with the idea of romance and having this epic romance. Enter Drew. Freshly graduated Drew is cute and the perfect distraction as Noah stays in Denver for the summer while his parents make the move to California. Noah writes two meet cute stories based on the two run-ins that he has with Drew and Drew happens to be an avid follower and figures out Noah must be the Meet Cute Diary’s mod. Is this far fetched? Yes, but it’s a romance novel, hardly anything in these books are ever plausible. 

After Noah’s blog gets called out for being fake (which it is), he loses a bunch of followers and Drew offers to help out by fake dating and being “proof” of the meet cute stories ending up in love. Noah is desperate to save the Diary and as a romantic he assumes the fake dating will turn into real dating soon enough. He puts all his effort into steering the perfect relationship despite Drew clearly being too different and never taking Noah’s interests into account. From the start Drew gave me the ick. He’s 18, practically in college, and starts being very clingy and physical with Noah from the get without even asking Noah if it’s okay. A lot of the things Drew does, Noah just puts up with and accepts all in the name of the Diary and his idea of love.

Noah’s selfishness finally catches up with him when his best friend (back in Miami), Becca, calls him out on his shit and asks for time apart. Noah is a spoiled child that is forced to get a summer job after spending $400 in a week on his parents’ credit card. Noah complains about having to get a job, and complains about the job he gets at a summer camp because he hates children (look, relatable). This is when he meets Devin in a not-so-meet-cute and Devin stress vomits on Noah. Noah does take his frustrations out on Devin at this point, but eventually they develop a nice friendship. 

Noah learns that Devin went to his high school (again a bit out there) and Devin’s the trans girl that gave him the tools and courage to come out as a trans boy. Except Devin isn’t a trans girl, e made a mistake and e’s actually non-binary (not really a mistake more of a journey to finding eir true self). For a moment Noah feels betrayed but reins it and tells Devin how eir bravery in coming out met so much to Noah. Devin even feels comfortable enough to try out different pronouns with Noah and Noah without missing a beat accommodates em. 

As it turns out, though Drew and Noah end up real dating, it’s completely toxic. Drew’s controlling, handsy, and it seemed to me it was implied that he was dating Noah because Noah has a vagina and breasts (he tells his friends he’s not gay and Noah’s “just special”). Given everything else he’s done it just seems creepy and not genuine. Which does throw Noah into a bit of a spiral as his Diary is also going down in flames. 

In the end, it’s a queer teen story about love, self, and friendship. Despite knowing himself and being confident, Noah put a lot of his self-worth into online validation. He puts a lot of importance on romantic love instead of familial or friend love, which a lot of teens do. But he learns from this in the end and actually ends up dating someone who doesn’t consume all of his time and he actually becomes a better friend, brother, and son. I love that his brother is so supportive, makes mistakes with pronouns, but just accepts Noah and Devin. He adjusts accordingly and probably spends time looking up things he doesn’t understand. And he’s quick to call out anyone that misgenders his brother or invalidates him. Noah’s parents might be shocked and struggling with the name change, but by the end of the summer they’re more confident in using his name and pronouns without having to speak slowly to ensure they’re using the right words. 

I loved that this book took place shortly after Noah comes out so there are new things Noah’s learning about himself. I like that he isn’t this All-Knowing Queer and even he has to look up the pronouns Devin has him try out on em or the gender/sexual identities Devin thought e was before landing on non-binary. I like the representation of not just a trans boy (which there seems to be more FTM love stories than MTF) but a trans boy comfortable in the body they currently have (as comfortable as a teen can be) who’s also a POC. I like the non-binary and asexual representation, the fact that Noah still likes the occasional dress and Devin likes makeup sometimes. I especially like the contrast between Noah’s confidence and Devin’s hesitance. The mental illness representation and the reality of anxiety attacks. This is where Noah starts to actually have some empathy. 

That being said, Noah was really hard to like and the way the blog was written was very silly. The flow of the book was a little over the place. I still think it’s a cute queer YA, that just struggles with either being a quirky queer romcom and a deep coming-of-age (it doesn’t just naturally mesh the two). It’s a fairly quick read which is good for the summertime, but it only just scratches the surface on the deep issues. I think this is fine to start a conversation, but I wish it was more in-depth. This is definitely a 3.5/5.

I want to preface that I really wanted to like this book. I heard mixed things about it and just wanted it to exceed my very mid-level expectations. However, the story is so underwhelming. It’s just incredibly boring. It takes until the last 150 pages for there to really be any real conflict. And there’s no “action” until the last 40-50 pages. There isn’t even any real build up to anything. And the ending is a bit confusing. 

Nella is the only black worker at a white publishing house. She’s been an assistant for two years, and she’s about 26 years old. Then one day, the company hires another assistant, Hazel, who is also a young black woman. Hazel thrives in the publishing company despite Nella having worked there for longer and it seems Hazel’s opinion is valued over Nella’s despite her lack of experience in the field. Nella struggles with her identity as a black woman since she grew up in the suburbs of Connecticut and was referred to as an “Oreo” growing up and she’s self conscious about the fact her long term boyfriend is white. She has a lot of anxiety about not appearing black enough to other black people while also thinking she’s too black around her white co-workers. Yet Hazel is able to come into the office and everyone loves her. Then Hazel begins undermining Nella. She’ll agree an author’s distasteful and stereotypical depiction of a black character is problematic, then tell their superiors she thinks the character is great despite what others (*looks at Nella*) might say. And of course, since Hazel is saying what they want to hear and clearly she speaks for all black people (rolls eyes), their white coworkers eat up her words and give her more responsibilities and moves further than Nella. 

However, Hazel’s slights don’t really escalate beyond that, yet Nella allows her actions to get under her skin. Which I can understand that black women don’t necessarily need to elevate one another but making a point to tear each other down is definitely not okay. It’s a huge betrayal since Hazel went out of her way to gain her trust. 

The “build up” of suspense is supposed to be these ominous notes telling Nella to leave her job, but really they didn’t seem threatening after the first one. It did seem like someone was trying to get her to leave before shit hit the fan but in like the worst and illogical way possible? “The Resistance” is barely explained and after finishing the book I can’t figure out what they’re trying to achieve. Harris constantly talks about the past while in the middle of something presently happening and it’ll take pages before it comes back to what’s happening now and it just gets a bit confusing, I’m not sure if that’s the point but it just got annoying. 

Another thing is Nella isn’t really likable at all. She’s pretty self absorbed even before Hazel enters the scene. And I could see her decision a mile away by the end of the book so it wasn’t shocking but still disappointing. I can understand how caring about the social movement can be extremely taxing, especially when it directly affects you and your loved ones, and it would just be easier to just not constantly care about those things (i.e. micro aggressions, police brutality, etc.). I can understand her choice but also not? If that makes sense. 

The book is described as Get Out meets Devil Wears Prada but I’m not really seeing it. The book also makes a couple Get Out references which is kind of meh. I’m also not really sure why black thrillers are constantly being compared to Get Out. Like amazing movie, but not everything has to be like Get Out to be good. 

I will say for this book it did stress me out (not exactly the suspense I wanted to feel but I digress) because the horror is rooted in racism which is genuine horror the black community has lived through for hundreds of years. These are very real things that black women face daily. The idea that black individuals have to constantly hide pieces of themselves and/or be totally complacent to get anywhere in their professional field is incredibly stressful and taxing and is, unfortunately, the reality of our current society. 

I can’t give this book anymore than a 3/5 rating, but it’s not terrible. I like some elements and scenes in the book and the potential is there.

Okay I have so much I want to get through before I forget all my points. First, this is a 4.25/5 stars. This is a great YA armchair detective novel. I could immediately tell the author was British for her use of “fancy”, “ring”, etc. Very cute and charming. But as a Brit writing a crime novel that takes place in the States, I appreciate Jackson for avoiding a lot of cliches and stereotypes. 

I think Pippa is very much a seventeen-year-old high school girl obsessed with investigative journalism and true crime. I can’t be peeved that she promised to be ethical and immediately breaks that promise. She contacts the victims’ families and blackmails witnesses. But again, she’s seventeen, and like most teenagers (especially privileged ones) she things she’s invincible and doesn’t think through to the consequences of her actions. She acknowledges this after ignoring threats which result in the kidnapping and death of her dog. It might be irritating that Pippa makes these brash and irresponsible decisions, but I’ve got a decade on her and a fully formed brain that understands I can’t just act without consequences. She’s not as dynamic as I would like her to be, but she’s still a solid character that does acknowledge her privilege throughout the book when Ravi points out certain things (like how one of the only brown boys in the area can’t just break into white people’s homes). 

And can I just say I fell in love with Ravi almost from the start, even though at that point everyone was a suspect in my mind. I just find him charming and understanding, though he’s twenty and Pip’s seventeen so no thanks on that. I appreciate they weren’t romantically involved for like the whole book but it’s clear where they were heading. 

This book is far from perfect, and a bit more could’ve been built upon for me to feel more emotionally (I did tear up here and there but I wanted to cry and feel kore suspense). However, I every other chapter I was making guesses on the murderer and what happened and tried to fit the pieces together, and though I guessed certain aspects separately, I didn’t fully form them or put two theories together to get the answer, so I was still pleasantly and mildly surprised. Yes, I’m one of those people who are too impatient and try to guess the plot. I like the use of texts, transcripts, and written notes to add to the feeling of following Pip’s investigation in real time. It is very reminiscent of the Adnan Syed case (check it out on Serial!) and almost seemed to have a Gone Girl or Pretty Little Liars vibe going on. I’m not sure if Jackson got inspired by the Syed case or not, I don’t care either way (I mean Gone Girl was inspired by the Lacy Peterson case). 

Pip and Ravi have good chemistry as friends and crime solvers, but it’s all bare bones (but good foundation), I wanted it built up more and hope this is the case for the next in the series (which I will be reading!!) 

This has to be the worst Marvel comic series I’ve read. It definitely is a work of its time. Completely tone deaf, filled with toxic masculinity, homophobia, misogyny, and bigotry. I mean where to even start? This is apparently Millar’s attempt to be edgy, gritty, and make the comics more realistic? Which means Hulk eats people and tries to rape Betty Ross, Betty is emotionally abusive and a high powered businesswoman which means she’s cold and cutthroat, Hank (jerk as per usual) is abusive towards Jan and tries to kill her, Thor is a smug political activist, and Cap is a chauvinistic and xenophobic pig. The only one that’s even remotely likable is Tony? Jan has the ability to shrink to an inch and Hank can grow to 60ft yet he gets to keep his clothes but Jan has to fly around naked for the sake of having a naked woman on a bunch of panels? 

Millar also tries to blame Betty for Hulk/Banner trying to attack her and kill 300 people. But Betty somehow finds his actions attractive all of a sudden? And the crew victim blames Jan for the abuse Hank inflicts on her. Betty also turned a blind eye to the abuse for a decade for the sake of “staying out of their business”? Throughout the comic, the women are all called “honey” and “sweetheart” and Janet is referred to as “Mrs. Pym”, she has a fucking PhD. 

The jokes fall flat and aren’t funny and most don’t make sense. The plot is very lazy, too. 60% through the book and now there’s finally a Big Bad and it’s these aliens that have been here for 230 years. Millar’s quick way to making them hated by the readers? Make them Nazi aliens. Not to mention that Millar explains these aliens were responsible for the original Nazi party? Just ridiculous and gross. 

The most concerning thing about this comic is the amount of reviews praising it are majority men and most of the 1-2 star reviews are women. It’s clear this comic is problematic as hell. 

I’d give it 0 stars if I could. Just so bad.

Okay, I’m going to start by saying it took me 7 months to read Glass Sword after reading Red Queen. Both books took me about two weeks to get through. These books are pretty slow and this one in particular was a bit boring. I mean I liked the adventure around Norta and learning about the wider world, but that’s it. I think Maven could be a formidable villain with him killing children and having an obsession with Mare, but it’s not something seen in this book. I said for Red Queen that it reminded me of Hunger Games and Mare definitely reminds me a lot of Katniss. Mare has done a lot for her family from stealing to becoming a Silver princess to protect her family. Though it seems her mission to protect them is lost after being betrayed by Maven. It’s not that she doesn’t care about them, she just forgets they exist or their feelings. But here’s the thing: Mare is a seventeen year old child. Children, particularly teenagers, are naturally selfish and not in a malevolent way but just the way they are. Mare and Cal’s relationship also reminds me of Katniss and Peeta where they seek comfort in one another, both have an understanding of one another, and they end up sharing a bed but nothing more, though Cal isn’t anything like sweet baker boy, Peeta. (Kilorn is just as annoying and toxic as Gale though). 

Mare is this reluctant leader, she didn’t choose this path and she sure as hell hates being in the position to lead. She struggles with the role and makes mistakes and struggles to control her anger and hatred which has led her to be ruthless and cold. These traits are important when going up against Maven, so the fear is her going too far and losing herself. Mare’s not a likeable person and that’s not a requirement to be a good story, in fact I started this series because I wanted to read a morally grey and slightly unlikeable main character, Aveyard just hasn’t quite gotten to a point with Mare that she’s a complex character who does questionable things for the greater good. 

I think I’ll continue the series, because Aveyard does do a pretty good cliffhanger. I like gritty political fantasies that really get into the violence and the crimes an oppressive and tyrannical government commits. This is in no way a romance. There’s no romance at all. It’s not even a subplot and really there’s no love interest that is all that likeable right now.

I will say the slow pacing and kind of filler information about the world and recruitment of the new bloods is something I’d expect from a middle of the series book, not the second book in the series. The first is supposed to be the foundation and world building, the second book is meant to be exciting and filled with twists and turns. But that’s just my opinion. When you have a 4 book series I feel like books 1 and 3 can be just exciting enough but filled with information, but books 2 and 4 are where the really crazy and fun things should. Just saying. 

I think this series could’ve been better if it contained multiple POVs to give more dimension to the other characters as we’re only viewing them from Mare’s POV and she’s currently absorbed with her actions. I’m not sure if I’m giving Aveyard more credit than what’s due if the confusing fighting scenes are meant to mimic actual confusion during battle which Mare as a first person POV would be processing it or when two significant people die and it’s a “what the fuck just happened” moment because it was mentioned out of the blue and quickly with little explanation, or if it’s genuinely bad writing? I guess I’ll find out in the next 2 (2.5?) books. I hated that one of these people died and got a little teary eyed (but not full on tears thanks to Mare’s numbness/indifferences to it) but I’m happy the other is dead. 

I’d say this is probably a 3.25 or 3.5/5 stars. 

To start, I haven’t read You Had me at Hola (I got the order mixed up) but I do own that book so it won’t be long before I’m reviewing that one. Anyway, this was a very cheesy romcom-esque novel featuring two incredibly good looking bisexuals. They’re both of the Latinx community from the Bronx. It’s also a second chance (kind of instalove?) love story about Gabe and Michelle who were best friends from ages 6-18, but Gabe leaves for college and doesn’t look back. He also ends up cutting off his controlling and emotionally manipulative family while he’s in college. The reason he and Michelle don’t continue their friend? He’s going to California for school, he didn’t tell her, and she finds out when they both through caution to the wind (friendship on the line) and kiss each other. It’s a good thing they both loved each other. However, neither tells the other their true feelings. This results in 13 years where Gabe and Michelle grow into their own and have no contact. Until Gave’s business partner unwittingly hires Michelle for a marketing campaign for their gym business. 

It’s all the perfect set up for a classic romcom. However, a lot of plot devices are awkward and is seems pointless just to put the characters into certain situations. I got quite a bit of secondhand embarrassment (something that can really make me uncomfortable like I fast forward through scenes in shows). I mean I’ll say the spice is pretty good (excellent safe sex practices). But the book didn’t make me feel anything outside of that. I wasn’t hearts all aglow with their romance and the only feelings I did have were anger and frustration. These feelings weren’t towards the two MCs (though I was wanting them to pull their heads out of their asses and grow up and tell each other their feelings) but towards their families. Like Michelle, I come from a half Italian family, they are loud and always making it their business to be in my business, but Michelle and Gabe’s families are even more over the top. I was getting claustrophobic from having so much of their family be all in their business and I get it’s probably a cultural things, but it was giving me anxiety. I hate it when families are like “I always knew you’d end up together”, I don’t know why, it just makes me angry. I really felt for Gabe and his relationship with his dad. Though I don’t come from immigrant parents or even immigrant grandparents, I spent most of my life trying to live up to expectations and seeking validation while trying to fight those things and live my own life. 


As a Latinx author, Daria kept the over explanation of culture and language to a minimal (something I’ve notice a lot of writers OC do). Overall, this book made me laugh and the chemistry between Gabe and Michelle was good and the spice was good. It was cheesy, spicy, and cute. 

A solid 3.75/5 for sure. 

Okay let’s get to it. This is my first trans rep book and it just happens to be a cute YA contemporary fantasy. I love the concept of a Latinx community in East LA who happen to be a group of brujx(s?) that can see spirits, can feel the death of one of their own, have empathic abilities and able to feel if someone is injured/ill, and half of the group helps the dead crossover while the other half help heal the living. How are these two jobs divvied up? Oh, it’s based on gender. Men have daggers to help cut the earthly ties that keep spirits from crossing over before they turn malignant and poltergeist-like. The women have rosaries they use to help heal wounds and illness. They need the use of animal blood to activate their daggers/rosaries. 

This introduces us to Yadriel a 15/16 year old gay trans boy trying to prove himself as a boy and a brujo to his family. With the help of his cousin, Maritza, he does just that, starting with a ceremony to awaken his powers. Maritza is around the same age, a vegan (so she is a conscientious objector to using magic since it requires animal blood), a soccer player, and an overall pretty confident and strong young woman. Yads is a little unsure of himself, hates being in the spotlight, and swallows down his pain over his family misgendering him or deadnaming him. 

The night Yadriel gets his brujo powers, he and his community feel one of their own be murdered (Miguel). However, Miguel’s body and spirit are missing so what happened to him is a mystery. Yadriel, eager to prove himself as a brujo, attempts to summon Miguel, but ends up summoning hotheaded 16 year old, cute, bad boy, Julian, a fellow student from his school (who also happens to be gay). Julian is also murdered on the same night and his body is also missing. Julian is effortlessly funny and so alive. Thomas did an excellent job writing Julian, I couldn’t help but smile or laugh or shake my head whenever Julian was just being himself. 

I love that Julian is just out and proud and fiercely protective of Yadriel almost from the get go and his little merry band of queers and misfits are pretty great, too (though wish they weren’t just kinda in the background). The yearbook scene will forever have a special place in my heart. 

The one thing I really appreciated in this book was the way Yadriel’s entire family wasn’t either 100% supportive or 100% against his identity. Though his mother was able to completely accept him as he is and used his real name and his pronouns perfectly, she’s unfortunately dead by the time we meet Yads, and even deadnames him. His father struggles with seeing his son as a brujo and even refuses to let him try to awaken his powers. His grandmother also constantly uses the female Spanish words with Yadriel. I think it’s realistic that not everyone in your family will accept or reject an trans or queer person and that even those that accept it, it’s still an adjustment for them. 

I also appreciate the Latinx culture in this book and the emphasis on Día de Muertos and Latín folklore/mythology. However, I’m not a fan of the explanation of what is said in Spanish or what food they’re eating. I understand a lot of POC authors do this when they’re writing about their community but it’s unnecessary and a bit annoying. I’d never base my rating on this, but it is just annoying. 

If you’re expecting this book to be a supernatural mystery, you weren’t the only one. I did expect this book to have more of a focus on Yadriel and these mysterious, supernatural murders, but it was more about him learning to accept himself and learn he doesn’t have to prove to others that he’s a boy or a brujo. The villain and mystery were immediately predictable to me (I called it within the first few chapters) but then again, this is a YA book and it feels very much like a young YA book (like for ages 13-16 years). And it’s more of a coming-of-age with supernatural undertones. The concept of the brujx with their gender-based powers being a way to validate Yadriel as a boy by him receiving the powers of a brujo (which still kind of enforces gender stereotypes, but definitely reminds me of Dreamer in Supergirl getting gifted her powers when they’re based on gender). 

This book was still pretty cute, I think Yadriel and Julian had good chemistry (even if they only knew each other for like 4 days [I means they’re 16 so it tracks]). I do think this book falls flat when it comes to developing the mystery, the magical aspect, and the villain, and the flow was off a bit (like why waste time writing about the beach party when they ended up somewhere Julian used visit to have the Feelings moment with Yadriel?), but this book made me laugh, made me cry, and felt like a real experience of coming out as queer in a Latinx family. I think Thomas did a great job just writing Yadriel’s daily experience of being trans (i.e. use of a binder, being nervous about using the school’s bathrooms, struggling between whether or not he should correct people). 

I think as a young YA that had enough in it to give me a bunch of laughs (and in tears) that it holds up and important literature for young queer/trans people. It’s definitely a 75-80 outta 100. 

Another cute novella from Ali Hazelwood. Though miscommunication and instalove are my absolute least favorite tropes, I think that Sadie and Erik have good chemistry and I like their banter. I mean I would prefer a full novel to really have the chance to know them and their relationship. I like that Erik is like a thick-fit guy and not some cute gym bro. I’m still excited for the next novella and novel coming out. This novella had two spicy scenes (just to be clear, it’s spice not smut!) that were enjoyable and the book had its cutesy wholesome moments.