I have put off writing a review for this book despite having read it over a month ago because I am nervous about not being able to express how wonderful this title is. Music From Another World is a queer historical fiction novel told through the perspectives of Tammy and Shannon, both students at Christian high schools during the Gay Rights movement in the 1970s. The two girls form a friendship after being assigned as pen pals for a school assignment. This book does a terrific job incorporating real historical events into its storyline and is both inspiring and beautiful. It is a must-read for both teenagers and adults alike!

While I loved the setting of this book, the Caribbean island of Tobago, Where The Rhythm Takes You just fell flat for me. The main characters in this YA romance, Reyna and Aiden were not very well-developed and I didn't find myself rooting for them to find their way back to each other. While I usually enjoy second-chance romance books, I don't think enough information was provided about their first attempt at love to make this trope work. With all of that being said, Dass, the author, has a beautiful writing style and I found myself daydreaming of the island where her story takes place. It is always special when you can "travel" through a book, especially when it is not safe to do actual traveling. 

I really enjoyed reading Everything, Everything, a backlist title from Nicola Yoon. Yes, it was predictable and a little bit cheesy, but I had fun reading it. I think younger teenagers would absolutely love this one and maybe five years ago, I would have given this title a perfect rating. The writing style is similar to books by John Green and Rainbow Rowell - authors I thoroughly enjoyed in high school, but I now find mediocre at best. With that being said, I enjoyed Yoon's most recent title, Instructions For Dancing, more and would recommend that title over this one if someone was looking to try her writing. 

The format of this book is really unique as it is composed of short stories that subtly intertwine together. They are all set during a blackout caused by a heatwave in New York City and focus on black teenagers and love. Obviously, there are some big names that helped put this book together (Tiffany D. Jackson and Nicola Yoon are two of my favorite YA authors of all time). With these well-known contributors, I hope that this title gets the recognition it deserves. As usual, it is hard for a short story collection to get a five-star rating from me, as I always like some stories better than others, but this one is definitely worth checking out!

As a plus-sized woman, I am always down to read books with characters who look like me. Sometimes the representation is not the best, but that was not the case with this title. Maldonado, the author, did a fantastic job highlighting the experiences of being a fat person including the anxiety that comes with clothing shopping and fitting into spaces (stadium seating, rides, school desks, etc.). I could wholeheartedly relate to these experiences and I am glad this book exists. With that being said, the storyline was not great. Charlie, the protagonist, was the only character who felt real. All the side characters, including her best friend and mom, felt very one-dimensional and didn't really add anything to the story. Also, the conflicts the plot relied on were revisited multiple times, making the story feel repetitive. For these reasons, I decided to only give this one 3/5 stars. 

I have had Becoming on my reading list for almost three years. My mom gave me a physical copy of this book for Christmas and I am unsure why I took this long to read it. Michelle Obama writes about a wide variety of her life experiences including growing up in Chicago, working for a high-end law firm, falling in love with the future president of the United States, being the first lady, and living after leaving The White House. As far as memoirs go, Becoming is top-notch. I experienced all of the emotions while reading her story and I didn't want it to end. I would be interested in a follow-up chapter on where she gives her thoughts on the current state of the world, as this was first published in 2018 and a lot has happened since then.

Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet is a beautiful story. Yes, there is a romance storyline between a boy and a girl, but I would say the true love story is about the community in which they live. Set in a neighborhood of Austin, Texas, families from all ethnicities, citizenship statuses, and socioeconomic backgrounds come together to support one another when difficult circumstances arise. In addition to this, Kemp, the author, expertly highlights the importance of mental health and the stigmas it carries in different cultures through her story. The content of this title was really great and the quality of writing was even better. I would definitely pick up another piece by Kemp and encourage others to read this story.

I snagged The Guncle as soon as it came in at my library. I have seen so many readers raving about this story and I had to know if it lived up to the hype. And honestly, it did. Rowley, the author constructed a story that had my emotions all over the place. There were moments when I cried and moments when I laughed out loud (mostly at Patrick's interactions with his niece and nephew). This contemporary fiction novel is so heartwarming and I can't recommend it enough! 

Displacement is a YA graphic novel with some magical realism aspects. Both the illustrations and writing help the reader learn about the 1940s Japanese-American internment camps, a forced relocation that is not fully taught in US History. It is a relatively quick read but is also probably one of the most important books I have read so far this year. I learned a lot from this title and I hope that more readers will choose to pick up Displacement because it is such a unique and necessary piece of literature.