The early days of the pandemic are the backdrop for this Brooklyn fire escape romance. Claire is navigating quarantine from her girlfriend of six months, Vanessa, when in her loneliness and confusion, is drawn to her mysterious across-the-street neighbor, whom she first sees sitting radiant-haired on a fire escape. 

I wonder if it's still a little soon for pandemic novels like this one, where the memory is so recent that I judge the characters for living it differently than I did. Total home grocery deliveries? No thoughts of helping others? Homemade masks seeming novel? And tbh, I'm still not over being frustrated with people who made the pandemic all about themselves, thinking it was only happening to them. Not that that's totally the scenario is this novel. Clearly Claire's fear is much of what drives her decisions. The unexpected change in objects of affection isn't that unexpected, and the fire escape girl has that perfect YA boyfriend vibe. 

I wonder if the author is queer or not. It certainly works better with all girls than it might have if the SO and new love interest were boys because power dynamics would have played more of a role. The girls' sexuality was easily accepted by everyone involved, and there weren't any in-culture jokes or concerns, and no thoughts about women's colleges as they discussed where they wanted to go. Brooklyn didn't seem super authentic either, with no references to the neighborhood. I can't imagine being able to talk to my across-the-street neighbor fire escape to fire escape where I lived in BK in March 2020. 

As I write this, I'm becoming more annoyed with the novel, and marked it down half a point. Proceed at your own risk!

Sure this is a self-referential Twilight rip-off, but Twilight is an incredibly compelling read/series. Crave's heroine Grace isn't clumsy like Bella, but things do keep happening to put her life in danger at her new school. Grace has moved to the [suburbs?] of Denali, Alaska, where as I type this in mid-May, the weather is -16º F, after her parents were killed in a car crash in San Diego, where they lived until a month ago. Her father's brother runs the boarding school, which is attended by Grace's cousin, now roommate, Macy. The school is weirdly factioned, with cliquishness taken to a whole new level of beautiful people who don't intermix.

Like Bella, there is something so compelling about Grace that immediately two faction heads--Flint and Jaxon--are competing for her. It turns out the whole school has a secret Grace isn't in on. I bet you can guess what it is!

This is basically 13 hours of backstory and context for the author's stand up show you probably saw on Netflix. If you appreciated Nanette, you'll probably like this book. I admire the way Gadsby's mind work, how she organized the memoir into ten sections and shares facts about each year as she goes when she's doing the remembering/growing up part. 

It's rare that I like a book as much as I didn't this one when I find the protagonist to be so self-destructive. Skye is an international tour guide and rarely spends time in her home town of Philadelphia. When she does, it's at the B&B of a high school friend, not with her mother and brother in her childhood home. Read into traveling ten months a year and rarely seeing your bio fam what you will, and you'll probably be right, that Skye had a troubled childhood. 

When we meet Skye at the age of 38 3/4, she gets a surprise that causes her to cancel a season of travel. While in Philly, Skye three steps forward and two steps backs her house in order. Skye's voice is smart and funny, and other than her, all of the characters are easily lovable. There are love and romance, but it's also a late-coming-of-age story. 

Example of Skye's voice (the first with a young friend and the second two with her brother)

I enjoy Dahlia Adler's books, and I think this is the cutest of them all. It's a feel-good butch femme  romance where the girls in the couple are a cheerleader and a football player. The cheerleader's conflict feels flimsy to me, but the book takes place in Florida, so I won't question her need to remain closeted to get elected cheer captain as her only way to get to college on a scholarship too deeply. 

If you like butches, quarterback Jack (Jaclyn) is super hot, and if you like femmes, cheerleader Amber is extremely bendy. And I appreciate her perspective on cheerleading: 

I found Happily Ever Afters frustrating while I was reading it, but at the end, I kind of wanted more! Tessa is a teenage romance writer who just moved to a new town and a new school just before her junior year. The new school is an arts magnet you have to be admitted to, and Tessa doesn't think she belongs. She's struggling without her best friend by her side, and with conflicts with her mom about how well or poorly Tessa cares for her autistic older brother, Miles. 

The writing is compelling enough, and I like the points Tessa makes about racism and other discrimination when her clueless white classmates say offensive things. My challenge with the novel are tropes I find annoying--neglecting one's best friend, lying, having an asshole as the object of one's affection. 

De La Cruz says she won't feel free until Black trans women are free. That she herself is cis makes me admire her ability center others. 

That's the end of the first slim chapter of the book, so you know exactly where De La Cruz is coming from and where her book is going. 

She shares history of gay and trans liberation, as well as her own story. At the end of chapter 4, she shows her take on intersectionality by drawing herself in a vest made of class, gender, sexuality, etc. These identities are not her invisible backpack, but her armor. 

The art is simple, but not cartoonish, and the colors are warm. De La Cruz fits a ton of knowledge and emotion in her short manifesto. 

lol--love that take on blue eye superiority. 

The protagonist of this softball and family redemption story, Shenice "Lightning" Lockwood, is a 4th generation ball player, who is now captain of the first all-Black 12 and under team in the Dixie League. It's unclear to her what stopped her grandfather from making it in the Negro Leagues and later MLB...until she meets her great uncle. Jack has something to tell Lightning, but he also has dementia, which makes it hard for her to follow.

This is an enjoyable story, and I like seeing Nic Stone write a female protagonist. There's a little romance, which I think is distracting and unnecessary, but all in all, good story, and I appreciate Shenice's rage.  

The titular Ophelia is a high school senior named after the character in Hamlet. Ophelia's mother is a white English professor, and her father is Cuban (I forget what he does for work). Ophelia is a romantic and obsessed with the upcoming prom, as is her friend Agatha. Her BFF, Sammie (Samuel) is obsessed with prom in a different way; he's in a competition with their other friend, Wesley, for Lindsay, a gorgeous girl in their friend group. Through Wes, their friendship group merges with his other besties, Zaq and Talia. Talia is known for having admitted in a game of I Never to having "kissed a girl and liked it." Cue sexual confusion for Ophelia. 

The other things you need to know about Ophelia is that she's an avid rose gardener, and until now, has been very out about her crushes on boys and her heartbreak over being dumped by a blond hottie named Lucas last year. As the story unfolds romantic and sexual complications are revealed. Things get messy, and I loved to see a teen romance with complicated romantic non/resolutions. 

Ophelia and her friends are realistically drawn, as is their high school experience, other than prom coming well before the end of the year. That's no normal, right? They're usually closer to graduation, aren't they? Hence "prom" for "promotion"? Or is "prom" derived from "promenade"? 

Quote about being mixed race/ethnicity

Genie Lo is a super tall girl going to high school in a Bay Area suburb when a short, but gorgeous new kid, Quentin, moves to town. When Genie first encounters Quentin, he's getting beat up. She tries to intervene, but fails, and is surprised when Quentin shows up at school unscathed. Turns out there's a lot more to Quentin than visible to the naked eye. Good thing Quentin unlocks Genie's extra sight, then.

The Epic Crush is an adventure/fantasy story, more than a romantic one, and was not very appealing to me, personally. I needed more of Genie's mundane life, probably because the world building wasn't strong enough.