If Looks Could Kill

It took a little while for me to get into If Looks Could Kill (publication day September 16, 2025) by Julie Berry, but once I did, I was hooked! I had a hard time figuring out how the storylines could come together, but they did, in spectacular fashion! Fiction about true crime/ historical events mixedContinue reading “If Looks Could Kill”

Fat Girls Dance

I was on a roll last month with fat positive books, culminating in Fat Girls Dance (publication date October 22, 2024) by Cathleen Meredith. Semi-autobiographical based on the FatGirlsDanceMovement on Instagram, and told from the perspectives of three fat women in New York City: Liv, Reese, and Faith, it’s an inspiring story that illustrates theContinue reading “Fat Girls Dance”

The Poet X

The Poet X (2018) by Elizabeth Acevedo is an award-winning YA novel-in-verse that just blew me away. The audiobook is narrated by the author, which I especially loved, as you hear the pacing and intonation as she intended. Xiomara (pronounced See-oh-MAH-ruh) lives in Harlem with her parents and twin brother. They are 15 and Dominican,Continue reading “The Poet X”

Like a Love Story

Like a Love Story (2019) by Abdi Nazemian is the historical queer coming-of-age story I never knew that I needed to read. It was a 2020 Stonewall Honor book and chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best YA books of all time, both designations well-deserved. It’s 1987, and Reza has just movedContinue reading “Like a Love Story”

The City We Became

The City We Became by 3-time Hugo Award-winning N.K. Jemisin (2020) is like nothing I’ve read before. A black, gay, young adult, homeless street artist, creates “breathing holes” with spray paint for the City to exhale. He meets Paolo, who keeps talking to him in what he thinks are metaphors, how he needs to “listen”Continue reading “The City We Became”

Joan Is Okay

Joan Is Okay (pub. January 18, 2022) by Weike Wang, follows NYC resident, attending intensive care doctor Joan through the aftermath of the death of her father in China, and the weekend she took away from work to attend his funeral. It follows her through a forced bereavement leave, through the start of the coronavirusContinue reading “Joan Is Okay”