Disclaimer: I received this book from my library. Support your local library! All opinions are my own.

Book: A Disappearance in Fiji

Author: Nilima Rao

Book Series: Akal Singh Book 1

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Fijian characters, Indian Punjabi Sikh MC, Indian characters

Recommended For...: mystery readers, thriller readers, historical fiction lovers

Publication Date: June 6, 2023

Genre: Historical Fiction Mystery

Age Relevance: 17+ (racism, sexual assault mentioned, kidnapping, sexism, religion, slavery, use of a slur, alcohol consumption, gun violence, suicide mentioned, death, rape mentioned, language)

Explanation of Above: The book focuses a lot on how there was a lot of slavery in the early Fiji colonies against Indians. There is racism shown and mentioned and sexual assault and rape mentioned. There is also a scene mentioned where a man is naked and has been naked outside of women and young girls rooms. Kidnapping is mentioned and there are scenes of sexism, alcohol consumption, gun violence, and death. There are a few religions mentioned in this book: Christianity, Hindi, and Sikh. There is a slur used throughout the book (coolie). There is a mention of suicide in the book. There is slight cursing in the book.

Publisher: Soho Crime

Pages: 288

Synopsis: A charming and atmospheric debut mystery featuring a 25-year-old Indian police sergeant investigating a missing persons case in colonial Fiji
1914, Fiji: Akal Singh would rather be anywhere but this tropical paradise—or, as he calls it, “this godforsaken island.” After a promising start to his police career in his native India and Hong Kong, Akal has been sent to Fiji as punishment for a humiliating professional mistake. Lonely and grumpy, Akal plods through his work and dreams of getting back to Hong Kong.
When an indentured Indian woman goes missing from a sugarcane plantation and Fiji’s newspapers scream “kidnapping,” the inspector-general reluctantly assigns Akal the case, giving him strict instructions to view this investigation as nothing more than cursory. Akal, eager to achieve redemption, agrees—but soon finds himself far more invested than he could have expected.
Now not only is he investigating a disappearance, but also confronting the brutal realities of the indentured workers’ existence and the racism of the British colonizers in Fiji—along with his own thorny notions of personhood and caste. Early interrogations of the white plantation owners, Indian indentured laborers, and native Fijians yield only one conclusion: there is far more to this case than meets the eye.
Nilima Rao’s sparkling debut mystery offers an unflinching look at the evils of colonialism, even as it brims with wit, vibrant characters, and fascinating historical detail.

Review: I absolutely loved this book so much! It reminded me so much of an Agatha Christie novel, but with that amazing historical fiction setting like a June Hur novel. The main character instantly appealed to me and I loved getting to know him and his backstory. I loved the storyline, the twists and turns in it kept me guessing until the end. The book also had amazing world building, I never realized how much racism and racist stuff happened between Indians and a lot of Asian countries. I loved learning about this piece of history and I feel like I have a lot more nuance into a lot of current world situations because of it. I can’t wait to read more in this series and learn more about Akal.

The only ding I felt this book had was that there was some quick pacing, especially with the traveling portions, but other than that this book was perfection for me.

Verdict: I loved it so much! I highly recommend this book.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the library! Support your local library! All opinions are my own.

Book: A Map to the Sun

Author: Sloane Leong

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Black MC and characters, Hawaiian character, Chinese character

Recommended For...: young adult readers, graphic novel lovers, contemporary readers, sports story readers

Publication Date: August 4, 2020

Genre: YA Contemporary Graphic Novel

Age Relevance: 16+ (death, derogatory term used, bullying, parental death, language, cutting, Christianity, underage alcohol consumption, potential sexual assault, fatphobia, misogyny, drug use mentioned, child sexual assault, sexism)

Explanation of Above: Death and parental death are mentioned in the book. There is a derogatory term used in the book (spaz). There are scenes of bullying. There is some slight cursing. Cutting is shown. Christianity is mentioned. Underage alcohol consumption is shown. There is a potential sexual assault mentioned and child sexual assault shown and mentioned in the form of a scene shown where teacher kissing a high schooler and an implication that they are having more illegal physical relations. There are scenes of fatphobia, misogyny, and sexism. There is also drug use mentioned.

Publisher: First Second

Pages: 368

Synopsis: One summer day, Ren meets Luna at a beachside basketball court and a friendship is born. But when Luna moves to back to Oahu, Ren’s messages to her friend go unanswered.
Years go by. Then Luna returns, hoping to rekindle their friendship. Ren is hesitant. She's dealing with a lot, including family troubles, dropping grades, and the newly formed women's basketball team at their highschool. With Ren’s new friends and Luna all on the basketball team, the lines between their lives on and off the court begin to blur. During their first season, this diverse and endearing group of teens are challenged in ways that make them reevaluate just who and how they trust.
Sloane Leong’s evocative storytelling about the lives of these young women is an ode to the dynamic nature of friendship.

Review: I really loved this book so much. The graphic novel has some of the most beautiful and colorful artwork that I’ve ever seen in my life. The story is also so beautifully told as well. I loved the friendship between the characters and it reminded me a lot of Gotta Kick It Up! The pacing was well done, the world building was stupendous, and I could just devour more of this story.

That being said, I’m kinda sad to not see a second book in this world. I would love another story and I want to see the girl’s stories continue. The book could have also been longer, there was definitely enough material for 200-300 more pages easily. The book also kinda ended on a cliffhanger. Where’s the next one please??

Verdict: I love it, the author needs to write more of this story, and please read this book and talk about it with me please.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Future

Author: Naomi Alderman

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 2/5

Diversity: Jewish Immigrant MC, Nonbinary character

Recommended For...: adult readers, Dystopian, Sci-Fi, LGBT, Speculative Fiction

Publication Date: November 7, 2023

Genre: Sci-Fi Dystopian

Age Relevance: 18+ (sexual content, language, Christianity, gun violence, and more that I won’t be able to discuss due to DNF)

Explanation of Above: I DNFed this read so I don’t have all of the items for content. There is a sex scene in the opening scene of the book and some sexual content mentioned within the few percentages of the book that I read. There is a lot of cursing. There are some references to Christianity. There is some gun violence shown in the book.

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Pages: 432

Synopsis: The Future—as the richest people on the planet have discovered—is where the money is.
The Future is a few billionaires leading the world to destruction while safeguarding their own survival with secret lavish bunkers.
The Future is private weather, technological prophecy and highly deniable weapons.
The Future is a handful of friends—the daughter of a cult leader, a non-binary hacker, an ousted Silicon Valley visionary, the concerned wife of a dangerous CEO, and an internet-famous survivalist—hatching a daring plan. It could be the greatest heist ever. Or the cataclysmic end of civilization.
The Future is what you see if you don’t look behind you.
The Future is the only reason to do anything, the only object of desire.
The Future is here.

Review: I DNFed this book at about 20% into it. The book was very much not for me and I knew it from the get-go. One of the opening scenes involved a sex scene, which I kinda found unnecessary and icky. The storytelling was all over the place, it was very disjointed. The book was in this weird format. And I couldn’t get into it at the end of the day even though this is one of the genres that I love a lot.

Verdict: I hated it, but you might love it! If it sounds like something you like give it a chance.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: A Little Ray of Sunshine

Author: Kristan Higgins

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 1.5/5

Diversity: FF side characters, Indian side characters, Bisexual character, Queer character, Adopted person characters.

Recommended For...: contemporary readers, romance readers, chick literature readers, adoption story readers

Publication Date: June 6, 2023

Genre: Contemporary Chick Lit

Age Relevance: 17+ (3 HP mentions, language, sexual content mentioned, slight racism, comments on infertility, comments on adoption, comments against adoption, Depression, Christianity, Parentification, Death mentioned, Alcoholism mentioned, PTSD, Suicide mentioned, Cancer mentioned, Drug Use mentioned)

Explanation of Above: There are 3 HP mentions in the book. There is some cursing throughout the book. There is some sexual content in the book, but no sex scenes. There is some slight racism in one part of the book. There are comments on infertility, adoption, and against adoption made by various characters. Depression and PTSD is shown. Christianity is shown throughout the book. There are mentions and scenes of Parentification. Death is mentioned a couple of times, along with Cancer and Alcoholism. There are also one time mentions of Suicide and Drug Use.

Publisher: Berkley Books

Pages: 496

Synopsis: A kid walks into your bookstore and... guess what? He's your son. The one you put up for adoption eighteen years ago. The one you never told anyone about. Surprise!
And a huge surprise it is.
It's a huge surprise to his adoptive mother, Monica, who thought she had a close relationship with Matthew, her nearly adult son. Until he secretly arranged a vacation to Cape Cod so he could meet his birth mother... without a word to her.
It's also a surprise to Harlow, the woman who secretly placed him for adoption so many years ago. She has built a quiet life, running a bookstore with her grandfather, and is happily single... though she can't help gravitating toward Grady Byrne, an old friend who has moved back to town, three-year-old daughter in tow, and no wife in the picture.
When Matthew walks into Harlow's store, she faints. Monica panics. And all their assumptions about what being a parent really means explode...
This summer will be full of more surprises as both their families are redefined...and as both women learn that for them, there's no limit to a mother's love.

Review: This book was a whirlwind and not in a good manner. Some of the good parts were that I liked the use of the Multi-POV to progress the story but tell it from multiple points. I also liked how the author managed to hit a lot of the highlights and issues that adopted persons face.

However, I absolutely hated this book. There was an immediate switch at the beginning of the book from being a child-free friendly character to over the moon about her son and wanting to be a mother, which was confusing and concerning in its implications on child-free persons. I didn’t like how the author kept implementing problematic books into this book, which a bookish person and book seller should know about as a character. It was kinda telling that the only two main books mentioned in this book were both problematic. It really said something to me about the author’s views and standpoints. There were a lot of stuff in this book about pushing the main character into being a mother and considering she was all child-free in the beginning I didn’t like it. I thought it was a bit problematic and, as a child-free person myself, it came off as “once you have a child your whole world changes for the better and you immediately want and regret not having or raising a child once you have that opportunity again”. The book also started to really discredit the voice of adoptees, especially in the last parts of the book. It kinda gave off this impression that the main adopted person in this book made a mistake finding their mom and that they should have just kept to their adopted family and while that might be some adopted persons stories, it’s a really hard subject to appropriately tackle that I didn’t feel like the author hit exactly right. This coupled with the other adopted person’s story about how they also made mistakes and stuff really kinda gave off this negative impression. Personally, I’m not an adopted person and I will always tell you to default to their voice on this book in particular. This is just the impression I got as a reader.

Verdict: I hated this book, but you might love it! Give it a shot if this sounds like something you’d like.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the author. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: An Otherwise Perfect Plan

Author: Ken Schafer

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 2.5/5

Diversity: FLF relationship mentioned, wheelchair-bound character briefly shown

Recommended For...: young adult readers, contemporary, romance, mystery

Publication Date: July 31, 2023

Genre: YA Contemporary

Age Relevance: 13+ (language, drugs, vague sexual references, HP reference, romance, religion, immigration, panic attacks, blood gore, politics)

Explanation of Above: There are a handful of curse words in the book. There are a couple of small references to weed and there are a couple of vague sexual references. There is one HP reference. The romance is slight and sweet. There are a few mentions and showings of the Christian religion. There is discussion and mention of immigration, though brief. There are a couple of panic attacks shown. There is one mention of blood gore. There is one part of the book that discusses some political commentary and there are a couple of other small references to political content as well.

Publisher: Moon Jumper Press

Pages: 278

Synopsis: Life hasn’t been easy for Gwen Pendergrass as a free-lunch student living with her mom in a one-bedroom apartment whose tiny, Marquis de Sade-inspired kitchen seems intent on inflicting grave bodily harm. The only thing making life palatable is Peter, a loner like herself who goes to the same high school, and who shares her love of books, banter, and endless reflection on the absurd­ities of the universe.

When Gwen’s mom receives a once-in-a-lifetime oppor­tunity to get back the life she’d given up when she’d dropped out of college due Gwen’s unplanned birth, Gwen is beyond ecstatic…up until her mom says she has to reject the offer, because they can’t afford to take advantage of it.

Gwen cannot, will not, let this happen, no matter the cost. She intercepts the rejection letter her mom was mailing, then ropes Peter into a Hail Mary of a scheme to find her father, undeterred by knowing utterly nothing about him—not even his name!—and only having a strip of photographs of him and her mom, taken in a photo booth somewhere in Las Vegas the weekend of her conception to go on.

And while she receives surprising help from unexpected allies, before she knows it, her white lies, scheming, and emotional roller coaster start to make a mess of everything, and it quickly becomes a race to find her dad before her mom catches on, her head explodes, or it all spirals completely out of control.

Review: For the most part this book was enjoyable. The book told the story about a girl who is wanting to make her mother’s life better by getting her a scholarship to Yale. When the mother finds out she’s been accepted, she tells the story about why they’re in the predicament they are in. The girl, also being fueled by an assignment at school, finds clues to who her father really is and with the help of her friend and a detective she sets out on a mission to find and reconnect with him. The book’s plot was predictable but had some nice side journeys to go along with it. The book had decent character development and the world building was fairly well done as well.

However, I had some issues with the book. Aside from the one HP reference (why are we still putting that in books?), the book had a couple of “what the fuck?” instances. The first was near the beginning of the book where the character goes off on a tangent about “dead people who are voting beyond the grave”. The leaning of that tangent was very Republican based and it gave me a very uneasy feeling for the book throughout the rest of my read. On the topic of the tangents, the book had way too many of those. The book, without the tangents, would have been maybe 150 pages less than what it is right now. With the tangents the MC goes on constantly, it makes it hard to understand the book and very easily sidetracks the reader. There is way too much info dumping in those tangents as well. Instead of developments happening naturally, a lot of times the developments felt forced along with the tangents. This also makes the MC of the book not sound like a teenager at all in my opinion. There are way too many tangents the MC goes off on that I don’t think a real teen would give two cents about to care. I also have a problem with the ending, specifically why the MC is kissing in front of her mother? It’s kinda weird. The whole of the book was kinda weird anyways but I was definitely like “what the fuck?” at that point as well. Neglecting these issues, the book was also kinda written weirdly and it took me a long time to find my groove with this book.

Verdict: It was good, but the writing isn’t for me. However it might be for you!