I love gore thus this book was very suitable for me! Unfortunately, I felt like the focus was on Jeppard too much than it was on Gus. I was fascinated by the hybrid elements but also gutted at some graphic illustrations. That being said, the illustrations were excellent! But, I did feel myself getting bored a lot.

3.5 stars

I liked reading Lundy's origin story, but I was a little bored until the very end. I did like the concept of the Golbin Market and paying debt/fair value & Moon and Lundy's friendship arc. But, it might just be a "me" thing because I haven't read this series in quite a while, so I was having difficulty remembering who Moon and Lundy were. Also, I just would rather have a book set at the Wayward Children's home lol

I really liked this memoir graphic novel about Raina and her sister, Amara. However, I didn't like how the ending was abrupt.

I received this novel for review courtesy of the publisher through Net Galley for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

TW: cancer, grief, death, body shaming, homophobia
Rep: POC, bisexual sc's

As a fan of the film, Grease I was very eager to read this Grease inspired LGBTQ+ novel. In terms of paying homage to Grease, Sophie Gonzales nailed it on the head by turning the Pink Ladies into three female characters who wore rose gold rose necklaces versus the basketball players wearing black and white leather jackets to represent the Thunder Birds or T-Birds.

I enjoyed that the author still made this her story rather than just copying Grease entirely. I really enjoyed the story she wrote about Ollie and Will.

Ollie is forced to prolong his stay in North Carolina for the entirety of his senior year to stay with his family to help take care of his Aunt Linda and her kids, Dylan and Crista, as Linda is fighting for her life battling cancer. After having a summer fling with a boy named Will who he met at a lake in NC. The writing was fun and I appreciated the appropriate use of pop culture references. However, some of the analogies felt excessive. I'm a sucker for a story that tackles grief and I was filled with tears by the end.

This book hit all the requirements I like in a book: music; specifically pop-punk, grief, and any queer characters with strong character development. Only Mostly Devastated hit all of those for me. Throughout the novel, I was struggling with accepting the decisions each character was making, especially Will. He irritated me to no end and his relationship with Ollie was borderline toxic. But I commend the author for tackling that and making Ollie such a strong character. There were instances where I felt like I couldn't connect to him aside from being into pop-punk music, being late to things and his "emo" style.

Ollie's new friend group, The Rose Gold Ladies is what I'll call them. They made me feel so many mixed emotions specifically toward Lara. But in general, each girl was very catty and dramatic toward one another. I was confused at times why Lara was even there because they would constantly be down each other's throats. A lot of girl hate and body shaming as well. But I appreciated that they stood up for each other when needed.

Great character development and I loved the coming out scenes. They were very important. I would recommend this to anyone who liked Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda or Autoboyography.

Now I want to go watch Grease.

I received an e-copy of this novel for review via Net Galley. All opinions are my own.

As a huge hockey fan, this book definitely resonated with me! There's not enough focus on females in hockey and I really appreciated Kate's character and her passion for hockey! It was a great graphic novel with colorful illustrations. My only problem was that it was very rushed especially toward the end, there were too many reveals to fit with the message of secrets and I wished the side characters were more fleshed out.I recommend to any hockey fans!

A wholesome story about a wholesome guy. John Scott was a mediocre NHL player and became MVP at the 2016 NHL All Star game. This book was a story of his life and how he got to the All Star game. Unfortuantely, the audio book is not narrated by him which would've made the story even better! But, the audio narrator told the story very well. I really admired how the story focused on being an enforcer and the importance of players who are the enforcer of the team. He gave due to some of my favorites: Zac Rinaldo and Danny "Carbomb" Carcillo and I loved that. He also talked about Ray Emery, former Flyers goalie and his first fight which was a great memory to relive! R.I.P. Ray Emery

Overall, this was an awesome story and it took a lot of turns I didn't expect! I am now a John Scott stan. Even though I did stan him in 2016 haha

also I REALLY love how he took jabs at Patrick Kane and Phil Kessel by calling Kessel a lumberjack and saying that he got some lumberjack offers HAHAH hilarious.

3.75/5 stars

I wanted to love this book but it felt very unorganized and lacked character development. I appreciated the Marvel references and the "dude" comments which had me laughing-out-loud! I enjoyed the side characters so much more than the main characters. Their romance was confusing and felt forced. Emir was such a jerk and I couldn't understand why Sebastian was attracted to Emir when he was so standoffish? Then, Emir blames it on his social anxiety and how he has trouble making friends but that's not an excuse. This book felt too much like fan-fiction and I understand this is the authors debut and I believe he can grow! He has the potential to write awesome books.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

TW: rape, racism
Rep: POC, #ownvoices for gay rep

The best way I can describe this book is unique. This was the most unique story I've read in a while. It tackles so many issues that are never discussed about boys and men! Through Max and Jordan, Bill Konigsberg shows how every guy is different and showing your emotions isn't a bad thing. Max feels like he always has to be a warrior yet he's hiding a big secret. Max and Jordan's romance is bittersweet, it was so different and I loved having a change in gay characters for once. Max is very macho and "dude bro" which I absolutely loved! I was laughing so much at the dialogue between him and his boys, Zay-Rod and Betts. As a guy who leans more on the bro side, I've been searching for a book that is more bro-like and I was so so happy with this! It was exactly what I was looking for.

This book also talks about relationships of every kind; friendships, parental relationships and romantic relationships. Max and Jordan both have rocky relationships with one of their parents, for Max it's his dad, who is a traveling comedian, and for Jordan, it's his mom who he feels like he has to babysit since the beginning of the story starts with him starting his dad's food truck with no experience to try and salvage overdue rent money so they won't lose their house.

Going into the book, I was so excited to read about a food truck and I really enjoyed this aspect! Mainly because I could tell the author really did his research, which he mentions in the acknowledgements. This is because we get to really see how much hard work a food truck actually is and the business side, like getting permits and licenses.

Next, I really liked the writing. You could tell the author really put his heart into this book by describing everything. In particular, I loved the descriptions of Max and Jordan's homes. They really came to life in my head!

Last, the title came full circle! For a bit, I kept wondering what the title meant. No spoilers :)

Ugh. I just loved this book and it's easily my favorite of the year. The characters were great and artsy! Max is an artist and Jordan writes poems.

Wow. What a powerful book. I'm ashamed that it's taken me this long to read Jason Reynolds' work because I loved this book so much. It executes the topic of police brutality and white privilege excellently! I also listened to this via audiobook while reading it physically as well and the audiobook was awesome. The narrator had a voice for each character and I feel that I got to know Rashad and Quinn better having heard their voices.

I only have a little complaint which is that I really wish the book had continued on and shown the court case/trial.

Overall, I highly recommend this.

Jason Reynolds can write anything and I'll enjoy it. To all the dreamers, this letter is for you.