Content Warnings for racism, homophobia, and a character being outed.

This book was sweet, but lacked real guts for me. I didn't feel an attachment to the characters or their plight. I wanted to know more about Nishat's connection to her family and her culture. I enjoyed Nishat and Priti's sister relationship. The subject of culture appropriation was dealt with well, but the plot of Nishat's henna business felt weak. There just wasn't a huge pull. She seemed to give up too easily to Chyna, because that's the way things have always been.
Overall, The Henna Wars was ok. Sweet, but not much substance.

This is a very basic guide to transitioning to a lower- waste lifestyle. Many of the tips were repetitive. I think many people who want to become zero waste have already begun with these sorts of tips.

Also, there was more than one fat-phobic comment in this book, which I found to be in very poor taste.

3.5
CW: Illness, Pandemic, Pregnancy, Body Horror, Cult

Reading Severance in spring 2020 is OOF.
The flow between the New York sections, the traveling sections, and Candace's nostalgia is choppy, which makes it even more eerie. This whole book had a lonesome feel to it. I wished I could see Candace's blog. I wanted more of the stalks and the "facility" and the group Candace traveled with-how did she meet them, did Bob force her to join them?
I kind of love how ominous this book is, how many questions it leaves unanswered. Does the unaffected world just leave the fevered world to rot and die out? We don't know. We just don't know.

CW: Teen drinking/ drugs/ sex, affairs, vomiting, zodiac/ astrology mysticism


My Summer of Love and Misfortune is the funniest book I've read so far this year. It's bright and snappy and heartfelt. However, if you do not like YA that actually reads like YA, you know, for actual teenagers, you won't like this book. Iris gets sent to Beijing after failing high school and being a general mess, which lets be honest wouldn't really happen. I think, in reality, her parents would A. force her to either repeat her senior year or get her GED in the US and B. Wouldn't send her to live with relatives they knew little about.

There are a lot of unrealistic things in this book. Iris is a dreamer, fantasizing about having different parents, a different life, etc, but she just wants to impress everyone. This book is full of rich descriptions of the Beijing high life. So many of the scenes reminded me of my own time in China.

Yes, this book has issues. Iris is vapid and silly, but that's kind of the point. She thinks like the irrational teenager that she is! There is a full character arc, which I appreciate. Frank has a motive, but we don't really get to see him as a full character, just kind of as a cute prop. If there had been more focus on Iris' education, and working on persuading Iris from the beginning, I might have felt more for his plight. The end solution comes a little too quickly. I wish there had been more building up to the fundraiser. Ruby was an interesting character, and I think she could have benefited from more depth. The ending just came so quickly that we didn't get to see her transformation.
Overall, this book is hilarious and sweet. If. you liked Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians, you'll probably like My Summer of Love and Misfortune.

CW: explicit sex, emotional abuse/ trauma prescription drug use, illness

This book is quite a bit more explicit than I prefer to read, but I still found it funny and charming. Although I am not chronically ill, I have someone in my life who is. I related to chloe so much. I didn’t expect to feel her anxieties about getting back into the world so hard. Red and Chloe were kind of a random pairing. Did they have anything in common? Meh, not really. But this book still touched on some heavy issues like chronic illness and vulnerability after emotional trauma, while still maintaining a fun overall story.

Darling illustrations. This book is perfect to read with quiet kids, or to read with extrovert kids who have difficulty understanding their quiet friends/ siblings.

This book was the first time that I read something featuring an indigenous Mexican protagonist. While I am not familiar with Mayan folklore, I still enjoyed it. I found the plot somewhat difficult to follow and the characters a bit indistinguishable. Still, this was a fun and colorful read.