Okay, fine. I am starting to get the appeal of graphic novels. Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell is completely adorable. It tells the story of Deja and Josiah, friends who work at a seasonal pumpkin patch every fall together and are sad because it is their last year of employment. Next year, they both will be in college and will not be able to work at their favorite place because of distance. This YA graphic novel is the perfect seasonal read and it made me want to go through a corn maze, eat a caramel apple, and explore a pumpkin patch before autumn ends!

Mother Of is a novella that includes inner dialogue and flashbacks that can be confusing at first for the reader. However, it did not take me long to become comfortable with the writing style. Coffin, the author, tackles a dark subject: a mother finding out her son is a killer. This real-life horror brings up past trauma for her and she is left wondering how she did not see it coming. If you are a fan of crime fiction and are looking for a quick read, I recommend you check out this title!

Clap When You Land is a book about family secrets, the relationship between loss and grief, and familial love. While that might seem like a lot to cover in a verse novel (and it is!) Elizabeth Acevado does flawlessly. Once I started reading Camino and Yahaira's stories, I could not stop. I read this book in one sitting (which is rare for me) and the only thing that held me back from giving it a five-star rating was the issues I had with its pacing. I look forward to reading more from Acevedo in the future!

I am obsessed with this story. August moves in with his aunt and starts attending a well-respected acting school in NYC after his parents refuse to accept his gender identity. At his new home and school, August is able to be his true self, but there is a problem. The move to New York came with one condition from his parents: he must not present as or transition to male. Obviously, August agrees to this but has no intention of keeping his promise. This is fine until they decide to come up to see him in his school's fall musical. This story is messy, dramatic, and a little unrealistic, but my musical theater-loving self just adored this title. I cannot recommend this one enough to others who enjoy LGBTQ+ fiction and/or the magic of Broadway! Please check out the content warnings for this book before picking it up, as it does deal with some heavy topics.

I was assigned this memoir for my disability justice class that I took this semester for school. Normally, I do not love the required reading I have to do, but Being Heumann, the memoir of disability activist Judith Heumann, blew me away. The Disability Rights movement, which is still active today, is not something that is taught in a typical American history class. However, this book is a must-read for anyone looking to further educate themselves on disability justice and/or intersectionality. Heumann highlights her experiences as someone who has used a wheelchair for her entire life and her role in passing policies that still positively impact the disabled community today. Her stories are shocking and her actions are impressive, to say the least. Add this nonfiction title to your reading list immediately! 

The Sun Is Also A Star is my favorite Nicola Yoon book. While it is marketed as a YA romance, I think that this title has been/will be enjoyed by readers of all ages. The protagonists, Natasha and Daniel, reflected my favorite writing trope, the romantic and the cynic, and while I was skeptical of their relationship at first, I became invested quickly!. The side characters Yoon included show the reader the relationship between love and fate and (for the most part) I enjoyed their asides. I appreciate literature that makes me think about my own life and this book will certainly make you realize how many things had to happen to lead to where you are today.

Color Outside The Lines is a YA short story collection with a common theme of love, more specifically love that challenges cultural and societal norms. This anthology was a quick, easy read, but there weren't any stories that stood out to me in particular. I have read quite a few short story collections this year and compared to those, this one was just okay. I would probably only go out of my way to recommend this title to someone who already loves this format and genre of literature. 

As you can probably guess from the title, First Love, Take Two, features one of my favorite romance tropes: "second chance at love". Preeti and Daniel are exes who ended their relationship due to pressures from their families but reunite when they both move into a mutual friend's apartment. While they try to keep things platonic, it does not take long for their feelings towards one another to come out again. Patel, the author, does a fantastic job tackling a difficult subject - how someone's cultural background and family can influence their relationships with others - while also writing a swoon-worthy romance novel that you won't be able to put down!
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(I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed above are my own.)