There are few things more damaging to a young queer kid than a midewestern pastor, and sweet Biblical Tom Hanks, did this book nail that to a T. 

Riley and her righteous anger and determination to ruin the people that hurt her sister leapt off the page, and you couldn't help but root for her to put all those people in their places. Without oversharing in a book review, boy was that relatable!! Her personality shown through literally every page and I laughed out loud so many times because she had the perfect quip and anecdote for every situation. 

The descriptions of the church and the people in it were so vivid I felt like I was 15 again and back in the church in Indiana wishing to be literally anywhere else.

I never went to any kind of camp, but I sure was there in that cabin with those girls bonding over the trauma the "lessons" put them through and trying to just figure out who the hell I was and why this person who is supposed to preach and teach me love and acceptance above all us wanted me to hide everything about myself to "get" that. 

Say a Little Prayer perfectly captures so many aspects of growing up in a small religious community that you used to love that turns it's back on you for being who you are authentically. It shows how much pretending and gossiping really happens in a church and how the people there can be too scared to stand up against it. It unlocked so many memories from my (very brief) stint in churches as a kid, but it did it in such an empowering and lovely way. 

This book is funny, eye-opening, and so damn full of heart. I loved it. 

I love a good picture book, and the illustrations in this are perfection.

Filled with some of the classic Winchester brother antics, this is a quick and cute younger-crowd approved telling of their stories. As a Cas girl, there could have been a little more action for him, but it's incredibly in-line with the show in that way.

Super fun and a definite collectable for any Supernatural fan!

Filled with frank (and often funny, I adore Johnson’s voice) facts and observations and absolutely stunning art, I learned more about the Harlem Renaissance in these 150 pages than any classroom. 

Beautiful and informative and will absolutely have a place on my shelf. 

Do you ever get literally 4% into a book and just KNOW it's going to be special? Because that's exactly what happened with this book for me. Four percent was all it took for me to know that I was going to love it, and boy did I love it.

Also it is completely wild to me that this is a debut. I can't imagine the things that Shelly Jay Shore has written before we got this gem of a story, because what the hell. It's such a fascinating, refreshing concept for a romance that I stopped in my search for my next read immediately to pick it up.

From the first page, I understood Ezra's need to be the one to fix things with his siblings. The one to take on all of their problems and make it all better for them, while holding onto that stress or responsibility himself. Feeling like you're the one person that keeps the family together and convincing yourself your happy about it? Yeah, been there. It was so wild to see this on the page and brought me to tears several times, because I was that sibling for most of my childhood.

I love a messy family dynamic, and boy is the Friedman family messy. Even their ghosts have drama, and I ate it up. As messy and angry as they all are, they are also so full of love for one another and I just could not help but root for them to get it together. I'm a huge found family truther and this? Oh, this found family is everything. Ezra's initial reluctance to let them get close made me stop and have a long look in the mirror, because am I this book's main character? Everything was just so close to home it got me good.

And Jonathan. Sweet, sweet, Jonathan. I loved him immediately and he only became more perfect as the story went on. Equally stubborn and soft (but always so full of love he made me sob), he was the perfect counterbalance to Ezra's instincts to shut it down and bolt.  They fit so well together and it was just so lovely. 

This review is a novel in itself now, but Rules for Ghosting is a book about dying, living, grieving and finding yourself and your community through it all. I silently wept through probably the last hour of the book and it is easily one of my favorite things I have ever read. Honestly might be my top of the year and and it's only May. 

Please keep this one on your radar.