Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Mother Teresa is one of my biggest inspirations and I'm proud to be named after her.

On the surface, this book has all of the elements that I typically love. It follows multiple POVs of a family, it's women-centered, there are elements of magic and culture, and it is written by the incredibly talented Elizabeth Acevedo to top it off. That is why it is so devastating that I am giving it two stars.

As I said, I typically enjoy books that follow multiple POVs despite having to concentrate a bit harder to keep track of the characters. The first book that comes to mind is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, in which every single chapter follows a different descendant of the same family. Despite the long list of characters, I was enamored with that book. However, Family Lore felt like it had so much going on that the characters and storylines became confused. I never felt connected to any of the characters, and although they each had their own storylines and magical abilities, I felt like most of their POVs weren't distinct enough. I felt like I was getting way too much information, and simultaneously didn't get to spend enough time with each character. I wanted to feel close to each character, but instead I felt a certain distance throughout the novel.

I also felt like the plotline was unfocused and there were too many flashbacks. Every time I thought we were finally going to get to spend a good chunk of time in the present, a new flashback started. For a novel set around a living wake, the wake itself barely got any page time. I also very much disliked the strange indenting that Acevedo used to signal the start of a flashback and the interjections from the narrator. They disrupted the flow and added to the already jumbled progression of the novel.

A few other points: the addition of a character with a magical vagina was something I couldn't get behind. I found the descriptions of it gross, to be frank, and I didn't feel that it added anything to the book. I also wondered why we barely got Camila's POV and didn't get Samuel's at all. I understand that the novel centers around women, but if we are getting POVs from all the other siblings, why not Samuel, too? Lastly, the many moments of added Spanish with no English translation were a bit frustrating and took me out of the story as well. Usually, in books where characters talk in a different language, the author paraphrases it in English so that readers can still understand what is being said even if they don't know the language. In Family Lore, there is so much untranslated Spanish that I felt like I was missing things. I know I can use Google Translate, and I sometimes did, but that also interrupted the flow of the book. 

There's no doubt that Acevedo is an incredible writer, and it was her writing that kept me reading despite my disenjoyment of the story. I will absolutely pick up whatever she writes in the future. Unfortunately, Family Lore just wasn't for me. 

I think I am settling on a 3-star rating for this book. As someone who loves octopuses but doesn't know a ton about them yet, a lot of the information provided in this book was new to me. They are incredible creatures, and the more I learn about them, the more fascinated I am! I definitely want to continue to learn more about them and marine life in general.

However, a good portion of this book was filled with the author's personal anecdotes, which didn't interest me as much as the octopus information. Although it was interesting to read about Montgomery's time in the aquarium and learning to dive in the ocean, I found myself only being able to read for a short time before my interest waned. I also fell into a big reading slump while reading this book (which is why it took me six months to finish), and I am unsure if the book put me into the slump or if the slump manifested for outside, life-related reasons, and it negatively affected my interest in the book. Regardless, it just didn't grip me as much as I wanted it to. 

I normally like the mix of memoir and scientific information, but in this case, I found myself wanting to get back to the octopuses when the book veered away from them for too long. Additionally, I do wish the author had discussed the ethics of keeping octopuses in aquariums more. As a person who loves aquariums and sees the benefits of these facilities in terms of research, education, and conservation, I think that there are many downsides as well, especially for animals as intelligent as the octopus. Considering the book highlights how incredibly intelligent octopuses are, I think it would have been a great conversation. 

I read this as part of my personal challenge to find a 5 star book from every year I’ve been alive, this one being for 2002 (even though I knew I wasn’t going to rate it because it’s a picture book, but the movie adaptation was one of my favorites growing up so I had to read this!) 

I actually think I liked this more than Jumanji! It was fun to experience the source material of one of my favorite childhood movies. 

This book is so incredibly well done. I always found myself on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next and if Cora would be okay through it all. I've seen other readers say that it was hard for them to connect with Cora, but I felt connected to her from the start and rooted for her throughout the entire novel. This book was impactful and heartbreaking, and Whitehead is an extremely talented writer. His mix of fantasy and truth was very compelling and so seamless.

I did find myself becoming a little less hooked in the second half of the novel, but I think that it wrapped up perfectly in the end. I cannot wait to pick up another one of Whitehead's novels and to watch The Underground Railroad's adaptation. I think this book will absolutely stand the test of time and is one that everyone should pick up at some point. 

I never realized that Jumanji was a book, so I read it for the shits and gigs. I don’t have much to say since it’s a children’s book and so short, but I like that I can now say I’ve read it! 

***I received a free early copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

I think this is a book that everyone can learn something from. Being part of the LGBTQ+ community, I’ve always considered myself to be pretty knowledgeable about the range of identities that exist, and I wasn’t sure how much I would learn while reading this book. But I ended up learning so much!
This is a graphic novel, with beautiful illustrations may I add, that discusses topics like gender identity, sexual orientation, the oppression of minorities, LGBTQ+ history, and much more. 
The book is packed full of useful information but at the same time, it’s very easy to digest. And the bright, colorful pictures make it a fun read as well. I think no matter how much you THINK you know, you should pick up this book. You’d be surprised by the things you’ll learn!

”The world is a turntable that never stops spinning; as humans we merely choose the tracks we want to sit out and the ones that inspire us to dance.”

This book was absolutely breathtaking. I would gush about it for hours if I could. If it’s possible for you to get the audiobook version pleaseeee get it. Elizabeth Acevedo is a former slam poet and the way she performs her novel and brings her story to life is truly like nothing else I have experienced. I don’t think I would have been impacted nearly as much by this book if it wasn’t for her reading of it.

The food aspect of this book was so fun and the descriptions of Emoni’s recipes were so vivid. And the fact that she was a teen mom was something I haven’t read about yet. It was great to see a young mom with such a strong love for her daughter and a determination to give her daughter a great life despite the judgement of others. Emoni was such a strong character and I rooted for her from the beginning. She struggled a lot throughout the novel and the way that she handled it all and did everything with her daughter in mind was beautiful. 

The writing was so stunning. It was a wonderful experience to read this book. I was moved by so many passages talking about Emoni’s family, her neighborhood, and her struggle with deciding what’s best for her, what’s best for her daughter, and how those two collide. There were a lot of times throughout this novel where I wanted to listen to a particular passage over and over just because of how moved I was by it. 

I could go on and on but overall this book was incredible and one that I will be thinking about for a long time to come.

Reading Rush Readathon book #2 for the challenges: read an author’s first book and read a book with five or more words in the title.

“History, huh? Bet we could make some.”

This book completely stole my heart. When I kept seeing it pop up around the book community I decided I would try it and I’m so glad I did. It met every expectation I had for it.
First of all, I absolutely loved Alex and Henry’s relationship. I could truly feel the love they had for each other and it's hard to explain but something about their relationship felt more real than any other relationship I’ve read about. I really rooted for them and cared about their relationship the whole time. All of their banter and emails back and forth were so much fun to read. And the bisexual representation truly made my heart smile. I loved the rest of the characters as well. They were all unique in their own way and I didn’t feel like anyone was just a background character with no personality.
This story as a whole was so refreshing for me. It was the first romcom I’ve ever read and it was so fun to laugh out loud and lose myself in the story. I also loved the unexpected surprise of having a female president in the book. That was so cool to read about. It was also fun to read a book about modern royalty because I never have before! Along the line of politics, I did feel like a lot of the political talk went a bit over my head because I don’t know as much about it as I should and I don’t like reading about it, but it didn’t take away from the story that much for me. 
Overall, this book was so amazing and is definitely a favorite of the year for me. I will be picking up any book she writes in the future! If you’re looking for a cute fun romcom to read this summer or you need some more gayness in your life, make sure to check this one out!