Really solid realistic fiction! I could totally relate to the titular Dani, a high school girl with a weird obsession (even though mine wasn't film noir, like hers was). Dani's anger over her parents' divorce and general sense of misfit-ism was perfectly handled, as was her dawning realization that she also has the power to hurt others. Also there was a mystery in it or whatever.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this given that I have no idea who any of these characters are. I guess at this point I've read enough comics to not bat an eyelash when a character is described as a "WWII pilot misplaced in time." Like, sure, of course. Anyway there were a lot of references to character backstory/motivation that I did not understand at all, but basically the message I got was: do not fuck with these ladiez. And I won't, I swear. Basically a really smart, fun bunch of ladies kicking ass in Gotham City led by the best librarian everrrr

NGL probably my fave part of this was a) learning that Catman is an actual costumed character and b) Catman and Huntress flirting. And c) Huntress telling him he's ~never gonna get it, never gonna get it~. Wait, no, because I forgot about how this volume also involved the Birds taking Dove to a male strip club. That was a thing of beauty.

I also like the part where Batman offers Oracle a hug.

Also the part where Oracle is a scary genius, duh.

Hmm. Well, I have to say that Matched exceeded my expectations given that it sounded kind of like a formulaic YA dystopia, and I liked Crossed as well. Reached fell a bit flat for me, but if you read and liked the first two, you're left with little choice but to conclude the trilogy. Reached felt more formulaic to me than the first two, and it didn't feel... IDK, I just wasn't very invested in the downfall of the Society and that Plague and like, whatever. I felt like way too many pages were dedicated to descriptions of plants.

Maybe I would have been more shaken by Reached if I had read this when I was a teen. Or a tween. And if I had never read the Giver.

SORRY BOUT IT

I hardly ever read mysteries or ghost stories because I am a DELICATE FLOWER and I can't handle them. But I'm trying to get to know those genres a little more so I can connect with the youths. I read the synopsis of this and it was about a Mean Girl ghost, and I loove Mean Girls.

Anyway, I read this whole book in one day. Really fun high school dramz PLUS a ghost mean girl PLUS an Ouija board scene. I dug it. Some side stuff about adapting to a new town/new stepmom, etc. Also the main girl was really into gemstones (because her dead mom was a jewelry designer) and I found her many, many Knowledge Bombs about the significance of every single type of gemstone to be interesting, rather than irritating. (It could go the other way for some readers, though.)

If you like ACTUALLY SCARY ghost stories or ACTUALLY MYSTERIOUS mysteries you will probably be bored by this book, but if you are a scaredy cat fan of Mean Girls I would unhesitatingly recommend this book to you.

oh yeah and there was like a love square or something, like a love pentagram really? SPOOKY

DAG YO THIS BOOK WAS GOOD AS HELL

That's my immediate response? I had a hard time putting it down. SUCH a good mix of great setting (NOLA's French Quarter in the 50s) and characters and plot. The protagonist, Josie, is the daughter of a prostitute but basically raised by Willie, the madam of the house where her mother works, as well as by the other prostitutes. (Josie's mother isn't really the parenting type). Josie is so strong and clever (even if she doesn't quite have *everything* figured out), and I love all the complexity given to all the secondary characters. Gender/sexuality/class/race are all handled so, so smartly.

I just... IDEK if this is a mystery, really? But suspenseful, and, just, ugh, SO GREAT.

Also I wanna go back to NOLA like, yesterday.

WHY IS IT OVER D:

Ughhhhh boooo. It was a good way to go out, I guess.

Important review notes: Mettle and Hazmat are so cute together awwww. Also normal-human Mettle is a hottie DANG.

Most importantly, the AA vs X-Men football game was EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED FROM COMICS INCLUDING GAMBIT GIVING ROMANTIC ADVICE TO TEENAGERS

MARVEL PLEASE MAKE A COMIC SERIES THAT'S JUST GAMBIT AND WOLVERINE GIVING LIFE ADVICE TO TEENAGERS

I WILL WRITE IT 4 U 4 FREE

HOLLA AT ME MARVEL

I liked this book because, as the title indicates, it's pretty bullshit-free. I haven't read any other teen-specific grief books but a lot of the adult ones are pretty bullshit laden. This is full of little anecdotes about teens/kids and different types of grief, interspersed with little boxes saying it's OK to feel however you feel, and little "it gets better" type mini-anecdotes from kids like "I was super sad when my best friend died and I still am but now I smile when I see pictures of us" or whatever.

When I picked it up I didn't realize it was Australian though, and it's full of weirdo Australian slang. (Sorry if it's not culturally sensitive to call grieving Australians weirdos. But like, one of the anecdotes is about a kid whose friends are in a bad car accident, and his friends are named Toad, Mouth, and Boz. Umm, not in America. And the other 2 die but Toad ends up on life support and is described as being "pretty well cactus." What?! Does that mean he's full of needles? He doesn't require much water? WHAT) RIP Mouth and Boz.

Anyway, I wish there were an American edition of this. Like I wouldn't have thought the Australian slang would be so pervasively confusing, but CRIKEY it totally was.

WHIIINE it's so hard to get into new comics, there are so many characters. I spent like half of this book trying to figure out if one of the characters in the present-day arc was also in the past arc. But in the era of Wikipedia I have no one to blame but myself.

The POINT is that Carol is a total badass & I would like to read more stories about her please.

This is another book that I just read to stay on top of the teen zeitgeists. I totally get that it's not FOR me, and if I were an actual teen I'd probably be into pages upon pages about what color Converse Lena wears. Approximately one-third of this book is lovingly-detailed descriptions of outfits.

I read this on Kindle so I don't actually know how many pages this was, but my estimate would be FIVE HUNDRED. BUT, I will say that I saw the movie and actually really liked it! I know books are usually superior to movies, but I think some YA books make better movies than books (eg Twilight) because movies can cut trim a lot of fat. (Like, say, long descriptions of outfits can turn into... actual outfits worn on screen with no further mention necessary). The movie also changed several plot points, but honestly I thought all the changes made more sense than the original. The whole magical lineage/magical rules/magical library business seemed unnecessarily complicated in the book, if you ask me. And you are reading my review, which is just as good as asking me. The movie was also funnier than the book.

I do want to give a shout-out to this book for being so book- and library-friendly! And for having a rad black librarian who can communicate with spirits!! Upon further reconsideration the character of Marian the Librarian (who is NEVER ONCE referred to directly as "Marian the Librarian" which if you ask me is a missed opportunity) might be enough to bump this to three stars.

Well, let's say 2.5 stars.