3/12/2021 0 Comments Broken Prince by Erin WattI read Paper Princess a few years ago and loved it so much more than expected. Being reminded of it on bookstagram I decided to pick up the next book, Broken Prince, but sadly the magic that spellbound me in the first book was gone. Maybe I’ve outgrown this series or maybe the first book was simply so much better, but whatever the reason this was not what I had hoped for and I will probably not read any more books in this series. This time the story was mostly told from Reed’s perspective (although there were alternating POVs also with Ella’s take on the events after a while). What pulled me in to the story and got me hooked in the first book was the strong heroine and the twists, turns, angst, drama and the insane chemistry and hate-lust going on. With Reed as the main character, and with Ella running away, I missed most of those things. Even though Reed has grown a lot and changed for the better, I’ve still not completely rooted for him the way I had for Ella. The story also felt slow and quite repetitive with Brooke back to the family to scheme and cause trouble and the Royal boys fighting with each other and their father.
But at the end, luckily some of the old glory from the first book returned. I loved “Avenger Ella” and how she turned into her old fierce self from the first book again, and all the fast-pasted action during the last 100 pages. And what a cliffhanger! Even though I strongly felt that this book was not my cup of tea anymore, that cliffhanger might haunt me enough to continue this series after all… Rating: 2.5 scandalous stars rounding up to 3 for the last 100 pages Get your own copy: Bookshop.org Amazon Book Depository Author info: Erin Watt
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This is the second book in The Pizza Chronicles, the sweet coming of age series written in diary format about a young boy trying to figure out life’s biggest questions such as sexuality, identity, religion, friendship and how to handle his strict immigrant parents. In this second installment, we get to meet RV as freshman summer is about to start. Sadly though, RV’s summer turns out to be a never-ending disappointment, with Carole going to Paris, Bobby being occupied with football camp and extra work, and RV himself being forced by his parents to work at an auto shop/gas station store. In addition hereto, his family life is chaotic and he’s confused about how to be a good friend to Bobby who is struggling with his demanding parents and the way his sexuality might risk his football career.
Due to his friends’ absence, RV spends most of the summer alone and miserable, which made the story a bit slower this time and the diary writing style feeling a bit too one-handed. I would have appreciated some more interaction or other perspectives, but overall, it was yet again very interesting and enjoyable to learn about RV’s thoughts, self-reflecting monologues and questions about just about anything in life. I really appreciated the way RV struggled with ethics and trying to be a good person, and the discussions with his Latin teacher, the proudly-out gay Mr. Aniso, were just as insightful and empowering as in the first book. All in all, this installment was another great step in RV’s continuous journey towards self-acceptance and gaining confidence to stay true to himself. RV still felt more like a middle-grader than a teenager and I can’t wait to continue the series to follow his growth journey and hopefully see some more action in the romance department for this sweet, adorkable, good-hearted and innocent character. Thank you to Gay Book Promotions for the free review copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily. Rating: 3 stars Get your own copy: Amazon Nine Star Press Author info: Andy V. Roamer This glamorous, complex, tragic and scandalous queer Hollywood drama is definitely worth the hype! I didn’t particularly like the main character, but I nevertheless found myself on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. This book is about the grand old Hollywood star Evelyn, who has never done any press or personal interviews, but who suddenly picks the unknown reporter Monique to write her completely honest memoirs. As Evelyn tells Monique her story, this book explores the life as a bisexual woman in a period of time when queerness was not accepted, and everything Evelyn has had to do throughout her life to hide her true self.
The story is divided into chapters for each husband, which was a very clever narrative as it so clearly showed how each one of her marriages were to help Evelyn further with her career, but how different they all were. In addition, it also reveals how ruthless, ambitious and flawed Evelyn was as a character, but still managing to make her decisions understandable. Evelyn is definitely one of the most emotionally rich characters I’ve ever come across in any book. And even though I can’t say I liked her very much, I nevertheless rooted for her and was completely intrigued by her. I also loved the romance between Evelyn and Celia so much! Due to the time the story took place (Hollywood in the 1950s and 60s), they both risked so much for that love and it was such a battle for Evelyn finding out if she was willing to put her whole career at stake for it or not. It was so amazing to see the way their love stayed true over the decades even when they were out of touch. “I spent half my time loving her and the other half hiding how much I loved her.” I also absolutely adored Harry and his and Evelyn’s friendship. I loved the way they became each other’s chosen family, and the way that Harry accepted Evelyn for exactly who she was. I think Harry might be my favorite character of them all in this story. I didn’t particularly root for Monique though, and if it hadn’t been for the major twist in the end, her part would almost have felt unnecessary. Now it did add another layer to it, in a very ‘Evelyn Hugo way’. All in all, this is a flawed and tumultuous, yet romantic and intriguing queer love story that is worth all the hype! Rating: 4.5 dramatic stars rounding up to 5 Get your own copy: Bookshop.org Amazon Apple Books Barnes & Noble Author info: Taylor Jenkins Reid This glamorous, complex, tragic and scandalous queer Hollywood drama is definitely worth the hype! I didn’t particularly like the main character, but I nevertheless found myself on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. This book is about the grand old Hollywood star Evelyn, who has never done any press or personal interviews, but who suddenly picks the unknown reporter Monique to write her completely honest memoirs. As Evelyn tells Monique her story, this book explores the life as a bisexual woman in a period of time when queerness was not accepted, and everything Evelyn has had to do throughout her life to hide her true self.
The story is divided into chapters for each husband, which was a very clever narrative as it so clearly showed how each one of her marriages were to help Evelyn further with her career, but how different they all were. In addition, it also reveals how ruthless, ambitious and flawed Evelyn was as a character, but still managing to make her decisions understandable. Evelyn is definitely one of the most emotionally rich characters I’ve ever come across in any book. And even though I can’t say I liked her very much, I nevertheless rooted for her and was completely intrigued by her. I also loved the romance between Evelyn and Celia so much! Due to the time the story took place (Hollywood in the 1950s and 60s), they both risked so much for that love and it was such a battle for Evelyn finding out if she was willing to put her whole career at stake for it or not. It was so amazing to see the way their love stayed true over the decades even when they were out of touch. “I spent half my time loving her and the other half hiding how much I loved her.” I also absolutely adored Harry and his and Evelyn’s friendship. I loved the way they became each other’s chosen family, and the way that Harry accepted Evelyn for exactly who she was. I think Harry might be my favorite character of them all in this story. I didn’t particularly root for Monique though, and if it hadn’t been for the major twist in the end, her part would almost have felt unnecessary. Now it did add another layer to it, in a very ‘Evelyn Hugo way’. All in all, this is a flawed and tumultuous, yet romantic and intriguing queer love story that is worth all the hype! Rating: 4.5 dramatic stars rounding up to 5 Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Taylor Jenkins Reid This is a sweet coming of age story written in diary format about a young boy trying to figure out life’s biggest questions such as sexuality, identity, religion, friendship and how to handle his strict immigrant parents. RV is the fourteen-year-old son of Lithuanian immigrants, who has just been accepted to a very competitive Boston Latin School and who is trying to navigate his demanding life and questions about his own identity. He suspects he might be gay, but he hopes not, knowing that his bigoted parents will not accept it and wanting nothing more himself than to be “normal” (whatever that means) and stay out of the eye of the school bullies. To try and convince himself that he’s straight, he starts to go out with Carole in his class, but he can’t avoid thinking about Bobby, the school’s top football player.
The book is written as RV’s computer journal and is told via the diary entries RV makes at the end of each day. I have to admit that it took me a while to get into this writing style. At first it felt a bit too talkative and info overloaded as it really reflects RV’s random thoughts when rambling about just about everything that happens in his life. But after a while I got into it and think that it added to the uniqueness and cuteness of this book. At times though, this narrative made it a little too much telling not showing, and the story could feel a bit one-handed when we only got to see the events through RV’s eyes. But on the other hand, RV was such a geeky, sweet, innocent and awkward character, and with such a great humor, that it was interesting to be inside his head this way. RV didn’t feel like a typical fourteen-year-old, more like a middle-grader in the way he looked upon the world and his own feelings. Even his thoughts about boys were very innocent and focusing on holding hands and kissing, nothing really more advanced than that. At times he felt perhaps a bit too selfish and immature, and I didn’t like the way he talked about not wanting to be a “sissy” and praying to God not to be gay, but all in all I really enjoyed learning about RV’s thoughts and doubts, and to know more about the cultural aspects as a second-generation immigrant teenager in the US. I also appreciated that the story didn’t shy away from topics such as homophobia or the harsh reality when RV’s openly gay Latin teacher Mr. Aniso was brutally attacked leaving a gay bar, and how RV started visiting him at the hospital. RV’s interactions with Mr. Aniso and their talks about identity and being proud of who you are were some of the best parts of the story. Through these talks RV really started his journey towards self-acceptance and gaining confidence to stay true to himself. Another thing I really appreciated was how the friendship between RV and Bobby slowly grew and how they were able to carefully reveal their feelings for boys in general and each other. It would have been wonderful with a bit more romance here, but the shy way RV reacted matched his personally best. All in all, this was a sweet coming-of-age story dealing with teenage confusion and important topics such as sexuality, family expectations and heredity, homophobia, self-discovery and self-acceptance in a cute and unique way. Thank you to Gay Book Promotions for the free review copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily. Rating: 3 stars Get your own copy: Amazon Nine Star Press Author info: Andy V. Roamer |
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September 2023
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