CW: sexual assault, police brutality, death, school shooting, misogyny

A must read. A powerful,  raw story about the author's sexual assault and the feelings and trauma it brought her. This is a very hard story to read, so please check all of the trigger warnings before reading. I only listed the one's I could remember. This is a story that will make you angry for the right reasons. Fuck Brock Turner and fuck the justice system that keeps failing victims of sexual assault. I felt so hard for Chanel as she tried to balance her life while going through trials and her own trauma. The way this affected her and her family was brutal.

Know My Name is beautifully written. The way Chanel shares stories of her life and experiences and connects them back to the Standford case shows how talented she is as a writer.  Chanel recounts all of her feelings from the time she was assaulted to the end of the trial as her mind is spinning in circles. She takes the reader through her life mapping out every location and every detail worth noting. I read Know My Name via audiobook which is narrated by Chanel Miller and you can hear her emotion really come through. What a heartbreaking but notable story. I wrote down so many quotes because Chanel's words were so lyrical. I'm so glad I read this and it's a story I will never forget. 

Some of my favorite quotes:
“Why should I carry the shame for the things that were done to my body?”
“I wondered how it happened, that I was now spending more time with my rapist than with my friends”

“Victims are usually automatically accused of lying, but when a perpetrator is exposed for lying, the stigma doesn’t stick. Why is it that we’re wary of victims making false accusations but rarely consider how many men have blatantly lied about, downplayed, or manipulated others to cover their own actions?” 

“I was tired of existing as an object of observation. Powerless as my narrative was written for me.” 

“Is an apology valid without change?”

“The judge had given Brock something that would never be extended to me: empathy”. 

“I’ve grown used to being unseen, never being fully known. It did not feel possible that I could be the protagonist”

“Victims are all around you” 

“Victims are not fractions. We are whole”

“The truth holds weight”

“Assault is NOT an accident” 

I was sent an e-copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts are my own! 

Icebreaker is a love letter to the hockey community. To hockey fans everywhere, you will feel so seen in this book. As a diehard hockey fan, I loved how much hockey culture is poured into the book from the fanfiction to mentions of LGBTQIA+ players who show BIPOC queer and trans* youth that they CAN play.  This book just got it right and you can tell a fellow hockey fan wrote this. 

I have not stopped thinking about Mickey, Jaysen, Zero, Dorian, Barbie, and Delilah since I finished this book almost a week ago. It's very rare for me to want to re-read a book right after I've read it. It had me laughing to being on the edge of my seat. 

Mickey is hands down one of my favorite characters, ever. He is complex but a good friend, teammate, and partner too. Icebreaker has so many important conversations especially mental health.  I love how much mental health is talked about and shown through Dorian and Mickey.  I loved how everyone helped Mickey rather than mocked him. His teachers, coaches, family, and friends were there for him and that's all anyone wants when they speak up about their mental health struggles. Mickey deals with imposter syndrome from his depression and feeling abandoned by his own family. Mickey is such a complex character but his character development is slow and realistic. 

This book will tear at your heartstrings and leave you craving more. If you're a hockey fan, you should read this book and if you don't know anything about hockey, you should still read this book. 

I love Connor Franta as a creator and a writer. So, it was inevitable that I would enjoy House Fires. This nonfiction book is about Connor's adulthood as a gay man and talks about how little representation he had of adult LGBTQIA+ people and that sentiment spoke to me so much. This book felt like it was written for me and I loved the mention of Corey La Barrie, a creator I adored and admired who sadly passed away in May 2020 on his 25th birthday. I was surprised to see that included but it touched my heart nonetheless. Thank you for including that, Connor 💙 The way he talks about grief becoming a more common occurrence in your twenties really hit close to me. Similar to his previous books, House Fires is divided into chapters and balanced out with pictures taken by Franta himself and poems. Overall, I really enjoyed this and will definitely be re-reading it

My favorite poems: 
Heartbreaker
quantitative suffering
cycles
perspectives
modern humanity
everything

Firstly, the illustrations were stunning. I love how much attention to detail was put into every page. We Are Water Protectors shares the important message about Indigenous people and their water. The book goes over every aspect of why it's so important that their water is protected and how the effects of their water being contaminated leads to horrific outcomes. The book does a nice job of informing children and I think this is a perfect book to read with your children or even as an adult. I absolutely loved this and highly recommend it to everyone. 

CW: school shooting, violence, blood, sexual harassment, sexual assault, racism, police brutality, gun violence

I really enjoyed reading the origin story of Nubia. I didn't know her prior to reading this and I learned a lot! I loved the friend group she had and her trying to come to terms with her power and ultimately, trying to make a decision that felt right for her when it comes to heroism. There's a lot of important conversations in this graphic novel. However, do look at the trigger warnings before reading because it is a heavy read!  

Wow. I loved this book so much. It does heavily explore fatphobia in a little girl's life at home and school, so please do go into this book knowing there is emotional abuse and fatphobia from her mother and children at school. I loved Ellie and felt for her so much as she just navigated life. She is definitely a character many fat kids will be able to see themselves in and know they're not alone. This book also has positive therapy rep and I appreciated seeing that in a middle grade novel!! I read this book on audio and would recommend that experience if it's an option. I'm so glad I read this and I'm definitely going to pick up a copy for myself. However, do read reviews from fat reviewers and know that this has a lot of fatphobia Ellie has to endure. But, she does have great friends who lift her up which I adored. This is a perfect book that middle school teachers should have in their classrooms because it teaches an important lesson -  the effects of bullying. 

Holy shit. This was phenomenal! We're taken through Nick's fifteen Christmases with his group of friends "The Misfit Toys" as they start a tradition of celebrating Christmas Eve together and creating their own queer chosen family. The found family in this novella is beautiful and I loved getting to see the characters progress every year. This was such a fun, quick read yet, super impactful. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to read a queer holiday story that is bookish and swoon-worthy! This is set in Canada, there's a trans woman side character, which was awesome to see! Overall, such a great read and I'll be recommending it from here on out. 

Hockey lovers, neurodivergence, a rivals to lovers romance, trying to save a bookshop and WHY DON'T WE??  This was everything I love and MORE! Oh my gosh, I loved it so so much. Highly recommend the e-book and audiobook!