I read Operation Redwood (2010) by S. Terrell French as a result of one of my other book-related labors of love–being steward of a Little Free Library. I bought it with a bunch of other middle-grade and children’s books in a $7 per bag library sale, and when I was sorting, I had to putContinue reading “Operation Redwood”
Category Archives: Weight-Neutral
Akata Warrior
Akata Warrior (2017) by Nnedi Okorafor is the second book in The Nsibidi Scripts series, which began with Akata Witch, which was the second review in this blog, back in January 2021. It picks up a year after Sunny Nwazue, a US-born teenager living in Nigeria, first learned of the secret Leopard Society and wasContinue reading “Akata Warrior”
American Gods
I don’t know why it has taken me so long to read Neil Gaiman, but American Gods (2001) made me want to methodically read each and every book he has written. (And I have very little time, in general, for white male authors, so this statement is meaningful for me.) Gaiman has described it asContinue reading “American Gods”
What If It’s Us
What If It’s Us (2020) by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera is a super-cute queer YA romance set in one perfect NYC summer. Arthur is in New York City with his parents for the summer between his junior and senior year, working as an intern at his mom’s law firm. He left his two bestContinue reading “What If It’s Us”
Alone Out Here
Alone Out Here (2022) by Riley Redgate, has been described as “Lord of the Flies on a spaceship” and there are similarities between the two. But Alone out Here is better, in that it’s more inclusive (Redgate includes women and girls, and people of color as lead characters) and, though there is still brutality, theContinue reading “Alone Out Here”
Finna
Finna (2020) by Nino Cipri is a jewel of a speculative fiction/ horror novella that can be listened to in just three hours! Nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Lambda Awards, Cipri gives us Jules and Ava, recent exes who work in the same big-box Swedish furniture store and are accidentally working the sameContinue reading “Finna”
Red, White, And Royal Blue
Red, White, and Royal Blue (2019) by Casey McQuiston is a queer enemies-to-lovers new adult romance that imagines a relationship between the son of the first woman president and the prince who is the younger brother to the heir to the throne of England. Alex Claremont-Diaz is in his last year at Georgetown, living inContinue reading “Red, White, And Royal Blue”
Olga Dies Dreaming
Olga Dies Dreaming (2022) by Xochitl Gonzalez is an engaging and darkly funny novel that deals with gentrification in Brooklyn, the aftermath of colonialism and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, living up to parental expectations, whether they are unreasonable or not, all with the background of a sweet romance. Olga and her brother Prieto areContinue reading “Olga Dies Dreaming”
Forever This Summer
Forever This Summer (2021) by Leslie C. Youngblood is a bittersweet and heartwarming middle-grade novel set in Bogalusa, Louisiana, and starring 11-year old Georgie, who is visiting with her Mama and baby sister Peaches to help take care of Mama’s Aunt Vie, who has Alzheimer’s. Georgie misses her best friend back in Atlanta, Nikki, andContinue reading “Forever This Summer”
All My Rage
In All My Rage (2022), Sabaa Tahir has created a compulsively readable book that draws you in to Salahudin’s and Noor’s lives, and you can’t help but watch the slowly unfolding disastrous train wreck. She tells the stories of Sal, Noor, and Sal’s mother, Misbah, going back and forth in time. It’s contemporary YA, unlikeContinue reading “All My Rage”