I was sent an ARC in exchange for an honest review through Net Galley courtesy of the publisher.

Content Warnings: Misgendering, transphobia, homophobia, religious fanaticism in the form of religious rhetoric, and mention of death by overdose and child death (not graphic) 

The Passing Playbook shows why stories about trans kids playing sports is such an important topic. Spencer, a 14-year-old trans boy goes through obstacles as he joins the soccer team at his new school behind his parent's back. I loved Spencer's character and related a lot to his struggles with his family, and internally. I appreciated the author including Spencer being on hormone blockers and giving an educational moment for readers to learn more about this life-changing medicine. Also, I really admired the inclusion of other queer, trans, and gender non-conforming characters as the story also focuses on the importance of gender-neutral bathrooms. 

Aiden was an excellent character for Spencer and I LOVED that Aiden gave him advice and didn't force him to come out. 

The Passing Playbook is also about a trans boy just existing with his friends and having a romance with another boy. I really enjoyed this debut novel and would recommend it to anyone looking to read more sports stories and trans #ownvoices stories.

I was sent a review copy via the publisher through Net Galley. All opinions are my own. 

Set in the late 90s, Delicates follows Marjorie Glatt a year after her mother's passing, and her laundromat was infested with ghosts. In this sequel, we follow Marjorie's eighth-grade year, trying to fit in and find herself while her dad and younger brother are still grieving the loss of her mother. 

This story is filled with metaphors about being a ghost and feeling invisible. I loved the focus on Eliza, a Black girl who is passionate about photography. Specifically, paranormal photography. She uses the darkroom at her school and teaches the reader about dark-rooms and how they operate. As a photographer, I really appreciated this aspect of the book as I used a darkroom in my Digital Photography classes in high school. 

I really enjoyed the way depression and suicidal thoughts were dealt with. Eliza, who is bullied at school for her interest in ghosts and ghost photography. We learn why she is so infatuated with the subject of ghosts and the message of how bullying really affects someone mentally which Marjorie also learns. 

This is one of my favorite graphic novel series and I really enjoyed the sequel and getting to see where the story went after the ending of the first.

This book highlights key points in Alex Trebek's life through each chapter. These are events that he deemed important. Knowing Trebek has the host of Jeopardy! It was really interesting to learn more about his life and especially how he got to become the host of Jeopardy! He also talks about the behind-the-scenes of the show which was interesting. I really enjoyed this. However, there were a couple of questionable parts that could've been fixed in editing. 

This was a very gut-wrenching and informative read from Trevor Noah. I went into this book looking to learn more about the comedian I knew nothing about and wanted to learn more about his life in South Africa and I did. Trevor talks a lot about the segregation during the appartheid era in South Africa and Nelson Mandela being elected president. I hadn't heard of appartheid before and Trevor did a great job teaching the reader about appartheid through the tale of his life. However, for a book adapted for "young audiences" Chapter 17 was very graphic. I also would've liked to learn more about how Trevor became a comedian because there's no talk about that besides the instances of him talking about going to meet his dad after so many years and being an established comedian and going on tour. We don't know how he got to that place in his career. Lastly, the organization of the book could've been better. Some of the stories are out of context and don't sync up with the previous stories. Overall, I highly recommend this! It was really great and taught me a lot when I didn't expect that going into it. 

I thought I would like this bc it sounded fun but I just haven't been wanting to pick it back up. It's not very attention grabbing in my opinion. 

stopped the audiobook after hearing the r-slur and I was too uncomfortable with that to continue. It's ashame because I was enjoying this.